Word: anbar
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Maliki has blithely brushed off the criticism, saying the tribal groups are akin to the Sahwa, or Awakening, movement. That movement (of Sunni tribal sheiks in the once al-Qaeda-infested western province of Anbar) sided with the U.S military and the Baghdad government to drive the insurgents out. And on Wednesday, Maliki delivered his own shot across Talabani's bow, defending the legality of the councils and rejecting claims that they are beholden to him. The councils are in the service of the state and will serve future governments, he said in an open letter to Talabani written...
...soon--and while they disagree fiercely about whether the end of 2011 is soon enough, the debate has brought together some unlikely bedfellows. Sunni hard-liners joined Shi'ites loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in opposing the deal, while Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki won enthusiastic backing from Anbar province sheiks ordinarily scornful of his government...
There's another political motivation behind their support of al-Maliki and the SOFA. The agreement is opposed by the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), the Sunni party loathed by the sheiks. The IIP won control of the Anbar provincial government in the last election, when most of the sheiks boycotted the vote. Now the chieftains want to supplant the IIP as the main voice of Iraq's Sunnis. Backing the SOFA and al-Maliki allows them to distinguish themselves from the IIP. The sheiks, in short, are playing democratic politics...
...lamb appear. The sheiks stand around as they eat directly from the trays. Everybody seems to agree that it has been a most productive morning, and as they depart, the sheiks make sure to compliment the al-Hais chieftains, Mohammed and Hamid, who beam with satisfaction. "This is politics, Anbar style," says Hamid. And what does he think of the election? "The only way anybody else can win is if they steal it, and if they try, we know how to deal with that...
...sheiks of Anbar have issued a challenge of their own. Iraqi politics will never be the same...