Word: iraq
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...Team America: World Police, the first Hollywood-financed movie inspired by the U.S. invasion of Iraq and its attendant political controversy, South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone dispatched a squad of U.S. guerrillas - all in marionette form - to take down an Axis of Evil dictator and, in the process, slaughter the real villains of the piece: a bunch of self-important celebrities who had publicly opposed the U.S. policy. One of these stars is Matt Damon, who is portrayed as such an idiot that all his dialogue consists of is his grinning stupidly while saying, "Matt Damon...
...Rather than clarifying Iraq's political future as American combat forces plan to withdraw in the summer, the election appears to have yielded another period of political uncertainty. Until now, Iraqi politicians have managed to hold things together by deferring decisions on some of the toughest points of contention, such as the status of Kirkuk - the oil-rich northern city coveted by the autonomous Kurdish region, a claim fiercely resisted by the Arab majority, first and foremost the Sunnis who live in the area - and the mechanisms for sharing the country's oil wealth. Cobbling together a new ruling coalition...
...Although Maliki's and Allawi's blocs both articulate a message of Iraqi national unity over ethnic or sectarian loyalties, the political contest is still fueled by the unresolved struggle over power and resources between rival communities. That contest echoes a regional power struggle, with Iraq's predominantly Sunni neighbors such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria supporting a greater share of power for Iraq's Sunnis. Allawi's list of candidates includes some of the key Sunni political players, and the self-styled strongman makes no secret of his desire to challenge Iranian influence in Baghdad. Iran would prefer...
...stakes in Iraq's political process - domestically and regionally - are high, and reflect the absence of a consensus on both fronts. Despite their distaste for Saddam Hussein, Iraq's Arab neighbors had long looked to his regime to serve as a regional bulwark against Iranian influence in the Middle East, and supported his eight-year war against the Islamic Republic in the 1980s. The U.S. invasion removed that bulwark, and Iran has profited greatly from Iraqi democracy. The governments elected since Saddam's overthrow have been uniformly friendly toward Tehran and dominated by Shi'ite parties. While none of these...
...light of the ongoing power struggle between Iraq's communities and their regional supporters, the design of the country's democratic system may hamper efforts to build a strong government. Iraq's democracy is a parliamentary system based on the principle of proportional representation - voters all over the country simply choose a party or bloc, whose list of candidates is then allocated the number of seats in parliament proportional to its share of the total vote. The Prime Minister is chosen by a parliamentary majority. While the system may be designed to promote consensus, in the absence of consensus...