Shiites' power raises Iraq concerns (next Iran?)

[leftchick]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iraq%20Iran's%20Influence

<snip>

With Shiites accounting for 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people, the Islamic sect that was long suppressed under Saddam Hussein and crushed in a 1991 uprising is expected to dominate next month's polls.

This may embolden Shiites here and throughout the Middle East, some regional analysts say. But Iraq's likely political shift is also stirring fears of the spread of an Iranian-brand of Shiite power throughout the Sunni Muslim-dominated region.

Jordan's King Abdullah, a pro-U.S. Sunni Muslim, this month said Iraq's elections could lead to the establishment of a hard-line Shiite regime based on the model in Iran, a country the United States accuses of sponsoring terrorism and trying to build nuclear weapons.

Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite running a separate ticket to the al-Sistani-backed one, accuses Iran of opposing Iraq's postwar reconstruction. His defense minister labels Iran as his country's "number one enemy" and calls the United Iraqi Alliance the "Iranian list" that would install a rule of "turbaned clerics" in Iran if it succeeds in the polls.

[IndianaGreen]

1. This scenario was predicted by war opponents before war began

and their concerns were ignored by a majority of Americans, partly due to the media's role in selling the Iraq war.

Millions marched against the war across the world. Thousands of phone calls, e-mails, letters, and visits were made to politicians of both major parties in an effort to prevent this war, all to no avail. We were ignored by most, and now they are wondering how to get out of the mess they have made while ignoring our calls for an immediate pull out from Iraq.

Remember when the Pope warned Blair and Bush that if they went into Iraq they would do so without God?

[leftchick]

2. I remember it all very well IG....

I wish JPII would come right out and call bush* and cheney war criminals.