Word: shying
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...That impression was reinforced Thursday when Interior Minister, Jawad al-Bolani, a Shi'ite, issued an arrest warrant for leading Sunni cleric Harith al-Dari, accusing him of fomenting terrorism and sectarian violence. Al-Dari is the head of the influential Muslim Scholars Association, who while condemning terror attacks on Iraqi civilians has nonetheless openly backed insurgent attacks on U.S. forces as "legitimate resistance." The arrest warrant was greeted with howls of protest by the Sunni parties participating in the government, who denounced it as a sectarian attack. Some Sunni leaders even warned that if it were not rescinded, they...
...been made in a dramatic late-night television appearance by the Interior Minister, who warned that "this is the government's policy against anyone who tries to foment division among Iraq's sects." After a meeting of ministers on the security situation reportedly broke down into a Sunni-Shi'ite shouting match on Tuesday, President Jalal Talabani has moved to convene an urgent conference of Iraqi political leaders to address the crisis...
...Hayden, however, has seen little that has pleased him the past eight months. In fact, he concluded, Iraq has been going steadily downhill since last February when the bombing of the al-Askari Shi'ite shrine in Samarra sparked a frenzy of sectarian killing. Hayden ticked off the problems: "There remains in Iraq today an active insurgency, a broad al-Qaeda offensive targeting us and Iraqis, criminality and lawlessness on a broad scale, rival militias competing for power...
...Suspicion over Tuesday's kidnapping immediately fell on the Shi'ite militias who have waged a massive campaign of sectarian kidnapping and murder. The kidnap bore many of the hallmarks of a militia operation, including the use of military uniforms and the targeting of Sunnis. Al-Ujaili is a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni organization, and some Shi'ites have accused him of filling his department with cosectarians. It is common for Iraqi ministries to recruit mainly from the sect of the minister concerned...
...There are Sunni ministries and Shi'ite ministres, and ours is known as a Sunni ministry," said one department official, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak with journalists. "I'm not surprised we were hit, but I never expected it would be such a big operation." The minister said both Sunni and Shi'ites were taken in the raid. Unconfirmed reports said around a dozen were released later...