Shiites joining in criticism of Iraqi government

[ck4829]

Hassan Allawi, one of Iraq's most prominent historians, looked forward to the ouster of Saddam Hussein's government and the chance for fellow Shiites to lead his country.

Now, he's disgusted.

"They have come to rule but they have no idea how to do it. They've left the Shiites with nothing to be proud of," said the silver-haired scholar, 72, who spoke by telephone from Syria.

The results of the past four years have disillusioned many of Iraq's Shiites, especially the educated, secular elite like Allawi. They've begun speaking out with grievances and sometimes anger about the Shiite-led government's failure to provide security, services and jobs, and what some of them see as a thinly disguised theocracy.

"We expected positive change," said Saleh Ismail al-Gournawy, a 54-year-old engineering professor at Basra University, in Iraq's mainly Shiite South.

The area near Basra, Iraq's second largest city, is rich in oil. But it remains impoverished, as it was under Saddam, and al-Gournawy blames the government.

The British-educated al-Gournawy recounted with horror a March 22 gunbattle between rival Shiite groups on the street where he lives. There's no end to that violent infighting, perhaps because the government itself is crippled by factions competing for power, he said.

"In reality, we have political groups but not a government," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070410/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_shiite_discontent

I blame the Bush Administration for this, these Einsteins thought they could install a democracy in Iraq while they were still in power, mega political points they thought, their names would go down in history they though, however, they thought WRONG!