Word: sectarianism
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...Just on Monday, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad threatened the Iraqi government with a loss of funds for training their military unless the new government being hammered out was ?non-sectarian.? ?The ministers, particularly security ministers, have to be people who are non-sectarian, who are broadly acceptable, who do not represent or have ties to militias,? he said...
...next day, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari fired back, saying the formation of the government is strictly an Iraqi affair. ?When someone asks us whether we want a sectarian government the answer is ?no, we do not want a sectarian government-not because the U.S. ambassador says so or issues a warning,? he told a news conference. ?We do not need anybody to remind us, thank...
...pointless to wish for a statesman, but those of us who cover the Iraq story know that no country has needed a Mandela or a Gandhi more than Iraq. Coming on three years since the fall of Saddam, the country is deeply and violently divided along sectarian lines. This week's bombings are a terrible reminder that without a unifying, healing political figure, Iraq's problems will only deepen, disrupting the stability of the Middle East and complicating any White House plans for military disengagement. And Iraqi political observers warn that the longer they are poorly ruled by ?small, ordinary...
...Jafaari's spell as prime minister yielded no real change in the political climate. The urbane and soft-spoken physician did little to heal the sectarian wounds tearing apart Iraqi society. After the Sunni boycott of last January's vote, Jafaari-prompted by the U.S.-brought some Sunni leaders into the consultation process over the new Iraqi constitution. But he looked away as his ruling Shi'ite-Kurdish coalition ignored most Sunni demands, and his security forces constantly harassed the few Sunni leaders who were willing to negotiate. Administratively, Jafaari's government failed on every front-security, the economy, jobs...
...local election monitors and a newly deployed international commission finish certifying election results, it's becoming clear that the biggest losers are Iraq's moderates. "There is almost no one in the middle," says an Iraqi official, citing how the seats seem to be going to sectarian extremists on both sides. Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's secular Shi'ite party hasn't so far got the number it was expecting. And according to the preliminary results, the secular list of Shi'ite Ahmad Chalabi, one of Washington's favorite lobbyists for the war to overthrow Saddam, didn...