Word: sunni
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...objective of Maliki's "national unity" policy, strongly backed by U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, involves trying to draw the Sunnis, including some mainstream insurgent groups, into the political process. (Though the Al-Qaeda in Iraq element grabs much of the media attention, it accounts for no more than about 10% of the insurgency.) U.S. interests both in stabilizing Iraq and in limiting Iranian influence there depend on drawing the majority of the Sunni community into a new national consensus. But unless the bulk of the insurgents who are mounting most of the daily attacks on Coalition forces are offered...
...Western diplomat said such sentiments were understandable, but that he hoped the Iraqi government's actions in coming weeks and months will reassure Sunnis and other skeptics. The government also has to convince them that the security crackdown in Baghdad is aimed at insurgents rather than at the Sunni community in general...
...Prime Minister's approach is understandable, no matter how many feathers it ruffles on Capitol Hill. To have any chance at engaging the support of the Sunni community for a national unity government, Maliki knows he must offer the insurgency a political alternative to violence. Any amnesty, then, would have to apply to those who have attacked U.S. forces, because anything less would have no prospect of demobilizing the insurgents...
...outrage in Congress at the idea that a U.S.-backed government was going to forgive those who have killed more than 2,500 American soldiers highlights the sensitivities facing Prime Minister Maliki: He needs to forge a new political compact with the Sunni nationalists who make up the bulk of the insurgency - as distinct from the minority aligned with al-Qaeda - while maintaining the support of the skeptical Shi'ite parties of his own coalition and avoiding making life difficult for the Bush administration...
...Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has repeatedly emphasized the importance of drawing in nationalist Sunni insurgent groups to achieving a workable consensus in Iraq. The flip side of that equation, as Khalilzad has also made clear, is that the Shi'ite militias must be brought under government control. Maliki has signaled that he plans to achieve this by integrating the militias into the national security force. But the Sunnis, backed by the U.S., insist that existing militias must not simply be turned into units of the national security forces - their fighters must be dispersed across the existing security forces...