Civil War Looms in Iraq as Constitution Talks End in Disarray

[beetbox]

Civil war looms in Iraq as constitution talks end in disarray

By Raymond Whitaker in London and Andrew Buncombe in Washington

Published: 28 August 2005


Weeks of bitter wrangling over Iraq's constitution ended in disarray yesterday, threatening the country with further violence and undermining efforts towards a timetable for American disengagement.

Hajim al-Hassani, the parliamentary speaker, announced yesterday that a draft constitution would be put before the legislature today, whether Sunni Muslim negotiators accepted it or not. But Sunni leaders said amendments agreed by Shia and Kurdish representatives did not go far enough, and urged voters to reject the draft in an October referendum.

Barring a sudden change of mind by the Sunnis, the stage is set for a bitter political battle ahead of the referendum when the bloodshed in Iraq is increasingly acquiring a sectarian character. Even the optimists who still describe the violence as an insurgency might be forced to acknowledge that Iraq is in the grip of civil war.

The apparent derailing of the Iraqi constitution is a severe blow to George Bush, who urged a senior Shia leader last week not to push the Sunnis to the brink. With nearly 80 per cent of the population, the Shias and their Kurdish allies are gambling that the draft would win approval in the referendum. But if two-thirds of voters in any three of the 18 provinces reject the constitution, it will be defeated.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article308603.ece

[Freedom_from_Chains]

1. Another victory for BushCo (sigh)

[BootinUp]

15. More personal than that

Bush's personal involvement wiil have failed to help the situation. Just another of his many failures to be sure. But this one will be the straw that broke the camel's back, in terms of his approval numbers.

[eleny]

2. Looms? This guy is in denial. There's already a civil war going on!

[etherealtruth]

6. Who didn't see this coming ?

Any person with the vaguest understanding of the history and politics of the region understood that this was likely ... yet chimpy and the evil cabal didn't see this coming??!!!

[Skittles]

18. bush inc did not consult a single expert on Middle Eastern history

not one

[etherealtruth]

20. What's worse ...

... is that one didn't need to be a scholar to see this coming.

Infuriating!

[Skittles]

25. yup

we in the DU knew it would be a disaster, and we knew the bastards were lying about WMD too..........jeez, it was so damn obvious they were chomping at the bit to attack Iraq from Day One - actually, even before that..........

[msongs]

3. "war" was about WMDs, remember? now it is about religions and

whose views of religion will get all the oil.

Msongs
www.msongs.com

[mediaman007]

14. I thought we got the oil! Aren't the Kurds and the Shiites in for

a surprise? Bremer gave all of the oil rights to the United States. Didn't he?

[Cocoa]

4. the optimists might be forced to acknowledge reality?

how likely is that?

[Gregorian]

5. Is it ever inappropriate to say MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?

I'm just about ready to change my username to mission accomplished. I mean, no matter what happens, it always works.

Failed constitution- mission accomplished
High gas prices- mission accomplished
No universal health care- mission accomplished
Teletubby reruns- mission accomplished
My poor tomato and corn garden this year- mission accomplished


Edit- I forgot to say that we have absolutely no right meddling in Iraq's politics. There. I feel a slight twinge of responsibilty for my post now.

[Mari333]

7. surprise, surprise, surprise. not. n/t

[Rex]

8. So when you fuck with a sovereign nation, it does what it wants to?

Imagine that! :eyes:

[calimary]

21. Honey, the idiot doesn't even know how to DEFINE "sovereign nation"

let alone set one up. EVERYTHING george touches turns to shit. EVERYTHING. Just ask Colin Powell.

[Rex]

26. Ya, I'm ashamed to say that at one time I would have

voted for Colin. Now I call him Colon Blow because of the joke that is his career.

[tom_paine]

27. You and me both, Rex. What fools we were!

Of course, who knew, given the customary kid-gloved Bushevik Treatment he got from the bootlicking MSM and Bushevik Sub-Media, that this monster started his vile career off (and likely attracted the notice of The Imperial Family for his odious, murderous lies) by trying to cover up the massacre at My Lai.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/BHM/powell.shtml

But he couldn't cover it up, because the Old United States of America USED to have the finest Free Press in the world, if you can believe that ancient history.

In any case, I wonder what the tiniest fraction of Imperial Subjects of Amerika even know that still today, as we are kept in the dark and fed bullshit as much as any citizens of ANY Totalitarian Regime throughout history.

Yes, Colon Foul (my nick for him) is a vile bootlicking stooge for Tyrants, and NOTHING he EVER does can change that.

[madrchsod]

9. that is why george the lesser and his gang

decided not to go into bagdad-there was no one to replace saddam. no oil only blood from iraq for years to come

[awoke_in_2003]

13. I don't much care for GHW Bush

but i wouldn't call him george the lesser. At least he had the nuts to be an active duty pilot in a theater of conflict during WW2, unlike the real george the lesser who used his daddies pull to get out of war.

[calimary]

22. Hey, welcome to DU!

Good point. I don't like GHWB either, but he did do that, even though he did bail out of that plane without double-checking that his crew got the notice to bail out, too (typical bushism: save your own ass - the other guy will have to fend for himself). But at least he did go to war.

[NYC]

10. Compare and contrast.

From above:

Weeks of bitter wrangling over Iraq's constitution ended in disarray yesterday, threatening the country with further violence and undermining efforts towards a timetable for American disengagement.

Bush said in radio address:

"What is important is that Iraqis are now addressing these issues through debate and discussion -- not at the barrel of a gun," he said.

[cliss]

11. Yes, thanks for pulling those two divergent views, N.

Look at the difference between the two.

Who believes Bush any more? No one should, not after reading these 2 quotes.

Isn't it amazing? This criminal gets up there, and lies Lies LIES. It's the most sordid thing I've ever seen in my life.

[NYC]

12. The boldness of the lying amazes me.

It truly does.

[Massachusetts]

16. "Civil War Looms in Iraq as Constitution Talks End in Disarray"

I thought Iraq was already in the "throes" of a Civil War....or is that Democracy?

[truthisfreedom]

17. Bush waits on Everclear for news of MORE WAR

woohoo! bring in more fodder!

[Raiden]

19. The anti-war movement knew this would happen

two years ago. This comes as no surprise to me, or any thinking person for that matter.

[calimary]

23. Yes, we did. And many of us knew only what we read and researched

and discussed - mostly on the internet.

I keep saying - if I could see that this was gonna be a disaster, and believe me, I'm NO authority on foreign policy or defense issues or guns and ammo or any of that stuff, but if I could see this, whatthefuck was wrong with everybody else? What was wrong with the media? Oh, I forgot - cheney and rove have the media's balls in the palm of their hands, and they squeeze hard, at a rate of about once per minute.

[bribri16]

24. But, but, I thought Bush just said on national TV that everything was

going great in Iraq? The Constitution was "approved" and the people were just waiting for the elections in Dec. And those bad, bad insurgents were waging war on Iraqi "peace."

Head exploding!

[FreeStateDemocrat]

30. Spin machine full tilt: Balt. Sun/AP: Bush predicts cooperation in Iraq

By Jennifer Loven
The Associated Press
Originally published August 28, 2005, 1:08 PM EDT

CRAWFORD, Texas -- President George W. Bush predicted Sunday that the Iraqi people will work together toward a new constitution, despite the failure to complete a draft that has the backing of all the country's ethnic and political groups.
"Of course there is disagreement," Bush told reporters. "We are watching a political process unfold."

"Some Sunnis have expressed reservations about various provisions in the constitution and that's their right as free individuals in a free society," the president said.
Despite the problems, Bush said the Iraqi people "have once again demonstrated to the world that they are up to the historic challenges before them.

He called the draft constitution "a document of which the Iraqis and the rest of the world can be proud."
His comments came as the Bush administration sought to dispel criticism that Iraqis completed a draft constitution that did not meet the U.S. goal of broader backing.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-iraqb828,1,6875778.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

[VegasWolf]

28. Civil War, Success, Bush can't tell the difference. nt

[The_Casual_Observer]

29. Is this a surprise to DU? I don't think so.