Word: sunni
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...Choosing Sunni Partners...
...Jaafari has made clear his intention to draw Sunni representatives into government at the highest level - although it remains to be determined exactly which Sunnis, and how they might be drawn in. Until now, the most prominent Sunni representative in government has been acting president Ghazi al-Yawer, whose party won only 6 seats. Shiite leaders have held talks with Yawer's group, but also with representatives of the Association of Muslim Scholars and the Iraqi Islamic Party, Sunni groups that boycotted the election. The combination of the boycott call and intimidation by the insurgents proved remarkably successful in keeping...
...there after Saddam had forcibly removed a large segment of the Kurdish population. That demand is fiercely resisted by the city?s Arab and ethnic Turk populations. Tensions are running high in the flashpoint city, with neighboring Turkey threatening to intervene to stop a Kurdish takeover - reconciling Kurdish and Sunni interests in Kirkuk at the national level could prove immensely challenging...
...While he has indicated that he has no plans to call for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq until such time as Iraqi forces are in a position to maintain security, many of his own supporters are pushing for a timetable for U.S. withdrawal - as are some of the Sunni groups to which he is reaching out. Jaafari has previously been sharply critical of U.S. military actions in Iraq, particularly during last August's confrontation in Najaf with followers of rebel cleric Moqtada Sadr. He has also spoken of drawing representatives of the Sadr movement into government - even Chalabi...
...Hariri's murder could once again unleash the violent centrifugal forces that originally brought Syria in. The postwar political order has sought to preserve a fragile balance among the warlords on all sides by reserving the presidency for a Christian, the prime minister's job for a Sunni Muslim and the role of Speaker of Parliament for a Shiite. Hariri was a Sunni, of course, but many of the remaining Sunni leadership are historically close to Syria, as is the current Christian president, Emil Lahoud - although other Christian politicians are more critical of Syria. The Shiites, some of whom have...