Sectarian break-up of Iraq is now inevitable, admit officials

[sabra]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1193108.ece

Sectarian break-up of Iraq is now inevitable, admit officials

<snip>

Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, told The Independent in an interview, before joining Mr Maliki to fly to London and then Washington, that in theory the government should be able to solve the crisis because Shia, Kurd and Sunni were elected members of it.

But he painted a picture of a deeply divided administration in which senior Sunni members praised anti-government insurgents as "the heroic resistance".

In the past two weeks, at a time when Lebanon has dominated the international news, the sectarian civil war in central Iraq has taken a decisive turn for the worse. There have been regular tit-for-tat massacres and the death toll for July is likely to far exceed the 3,149 civilians killed in June.

...

"The government is all in the Green Zone like the previous one and they have left the streets to the terrorists," said Mahmoud Othman, a veteran Iraqi politician. He said the situation would be made worse by the war in Lebanon because it would intensify the struggle between Iran and the US being staged in Iraq. The Iraqi crisis would now receive much reduced international attention.

The switch of American and British media attention to Lebanon and away from the rapidly deteriorating situation in Baghdad is much to the political benefit of Mr Blair and Mr Bush.

[rodeodance]

1. this has been a new news story lat 3-4 days at least.--in the press. What

are they saying on the talk 'news' show?--anyone hear anything?


By Patrick Cockburn in Amman
Published: 24 July 2006

[UpInArms]

3. APJ puts out a Pundit Pap Report each week

here's a few snippets:

Meet the Press: Tim Russert Does A Bolten, Ricks Does Bush "Fiasco" in Iraq
by Leah

No, not the Bolton with the big, bushy mustache, but Josh Bolten, George
Bush’s clean-shaven, intelligent, softly-spoken chief-of-staff, but like
all members of this administration, however intelligent, however
conversant with facts, he is all talking points, all the time, which
makes him boring to listen to, of course, but far worse, dangerously
deficient in the area of reality-testing.

<snip>

The context for Russert’s opening questions were two reports by NBC
correspondents from Israel and Lebanon;that’s where Russert began.

Would the US, asked Timmeh, be “open” to an international force on the
Israeli-Lebanon border? Yes, said Bolten, as Secretary Rice has
indicated, we would…BUT…the purpose of any such proposals, and all other
proposals, as was repeated repeatedly, has to be a sustainable
cease-fire. Sustainable solutions based on getting at root causes -
that’s our policy, and until we get that…well, remember Israel has a
right to defend itself.

Hello? Has anyone noticed that while this administration goes after
their version of root causes, an actual war is going on?

...there will be more tomorrow...

if you are interested in receiving their emails - you can send an email to [e-mail] with subscribe in the subject line

[rodeodance]

2. they have left the streets to the terrorists," (gov. in green zone).

......."The government is all in the Green Zone like the previous one and they have left the streets to the terrorists," said Mahmoud Othman, a veteran Iraqi politician. He said the situation would be made worse by the war in Lebanon because it would intensify the struggle between Iran and the US being staged in Iraq. The Iraqi crisis would now receive much reduced international attention.

[endarkenment]

4. "to the political benefit of Mr Blair and Mr Bush"

"The switch of American and British media attention to Lebanon and away from the rapidly deteriorating situation in Baghdad is much to the political benefit of Mr Blair and Mr Bush."

Indeed. And here we are in the start of the end run to the 06 elections. What is the major issue driving down Republican's? Iraq. The Lebanon war is keeping Iraq off of the evening news and that is nothing but good news for Team **.