Shi'ites fail to nominate Iraq PM again

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060211/wl_nm/iraq_alliance_primeminister_dc

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's ruling Islamist Shi'ite alliance failed to pick a candidate for prime minister again in talks on Saturday, with rivalries delaying negotiations on forming a government nearly two months after elections.

A senior official in the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) said earlier that the grouping was expected to nominate Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi to lead the first full-term government after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

But Saturday's talks dashed expectations that Abdul Mahdi, a leader in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), would stand as the alliance's candidate and ease what appears to be an internal crisis in the alliance.

As the party with the biggest bloc in parliament after winning 128 of the 275 seats, the alliance will be asked by the next president to name a prime minister, to be approved by a simple parliamentary majority, under the Iraqi constitution.

[0007]

1. I wonder if this could be the crux of the matter? Duh!

Iraq's Sadr says Prophet images must unite Muslims

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Muslims must unite and set aside sectarian differences to counter a Western "crusade" on Islam following a furore over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad, Iraqi Shi'ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr said on Friday.

"We have seen a popular reaction against the Western campaign and an education of the people against Western ideas that want to hurt Islam," Sadr told Reuters in an interview.

Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim leader Moqtada al-Sadr listens during an interview with Reuters on a visit to Damascus February 10, 2006. (REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri)
"This is a Western crusade and a campaign against Islam," referring to Muslim outrage across the world over the cartoons.

Thousands of Muslims have demonstrated in the Middle East, Asia and Africa over the cartoons first published in Denmark in September. At least 11 people have been killed in the protests.

One cartoon showed the Prophet Mohammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Muslims consider any portrayal of the Prophet blasphemous, let alone one showing him as a terrorist.

Sadr, who wields much influence among Iraq's Shi'ite majority, urged fellow Muslims not to vent their anger over the cartoons against Christians.

"Targeting Christians in the Middle East and Muslim countries would be mistake," he added.

Combining nationalism and Islam, Sadr's rhetoric appeals to millions of mostly downtrodden Iraqi Shi'ites but also to many Sunnis and Iraqi rebels fighting U.S. forces.

SOOTHING SUNNI FEARS

Speaking in Damascus during a visit to Syria, Sadr said he was on a regional tour that included Saudi Arabia to reassure Iraq's Sunni neighbours over the rising power of Shi'ites, who are a majority in Iraq and Iran but a minority in the rest of the Middle East.

"The Muslim and Arab situation needs solidarity to stand against the Western offensive against Islam and the Middle East," Sadr said. "I am here to dispel fear Arab countries have of the Shi'ites."

Iraq's once oppressed Shi'ite majority saw its political dominance confirmed on Friday when final election results gave an alliance of Shi'ite Islamist parties won a near majority in parliament, securing 128 of the 275 seats in the Dec. 15 poll.

Some Arab leaders, including Jordan's King Abdullah, have expressed concern over the Shi'ite ascendancy to power in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2003.

The young Sadr, who rose to prominence when he led two uprisings against U.S. forces in Iraq following Saddam's ousting, has been compared to Hizbollah's charismatic leader Hassan Nasrallah. His Mehdi Army has also been compared to the armed Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Sadr said he agreed with the comparison. "Our ideas are similar as far as standing to oppression and occupation and against the corruption that the entire West wants to spread in the region and in Islamic countries."

Sadr said Iraq's stability can only be restored once U.S. forces leave.

"What is causing instability to Iraq is the occupation," he said. "The exit of the occupier will be a victory for Iraq and not as it is said a victory for the terrorists."

[Toots]

2. "This is a Western crusade and a campaign against Islam,"

The world knows the truth. Hell even most Americans are starting to realize the truth. This is a new "Crusade against Islam". It is never just "terrorist" any more. It is always "Islamic terrorists" even though ninety percent of the violence is not religious at all. It is nothing more than the haves against the have nots and over there that is much different than over here. Even the have nots in America are doing better than most of their ordinary folks are doing.

[IndianaGreen]

5. And we play ourselves for suckers when we defend the cartoons

that offended all Muslims, and continue to republish them.

By the time this is all over, the US will be out of the entire Middle East.

[bemildred]

3. Apparently so:

At least, in this fellows opinion:

---

Muqtada's visit to Syria has several objectives. One is that he wants to promote himself as an Iraqi politician and not just a resistance leader in the Shi'ite community. He wants to bolster his senior pan-Arab and pan-Islamic contacts to empower himself among Shi'ites against opponents who are older and better-connected, such as Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Council of the Iraqi Revolution (SCIR).

---

Another reason for Muqtada's visit is that he wants to solicit the support of Syria, which still commands influence over many Iraqis, including former Iraqi Ba'athists, and Iraqis living in Syria.

This is to support the candidacy of Nadim al-Jabiri, head of the al-Fadila al-Islamiyya Party and a disciple of Muqtada's slain father, to become the new prime minister. Jabiri is backed by Muqtada against the better-established Adel Abdul-Mehdi, who is supported by Muqtada's opponents in Shi'ite politics.

Muqtada's visit to Damascus comes shortly after his visit to Tehran last month, where he met Ali Larijani, the chief negotiator on nuclear weapons under President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. From Syria, Muqtada declared: "I am at the service of Syria and Iran. I will defend all Muslim countries with all means."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HB10Ak03.html

[IndianaGreen]

4. Moqtada al-Sadr: "What is causing instability to Iraq is the occupation."

I couldn't agree more, it is the occupation that is the root cause of the insurgency. Bush and his allies among the weenie Dems, will never end this war.

[tatertop]

6. al-Sadr continues to show great restraint, great composure

I suspect there is more to that fellow than meets the press.