Sunni Ministers Threaten to Quit Cabinet in Iraq

[cal04]

Source: ALISSA J. RUBIN

The largest bloc of Sunni Arabs in the Iraqi Parliament threatened to withdraw its ministers from the Shiite-dominated cabinet on Monday in frustration over the government’s failure to deal with Sunni concerns.

President Bush stepped in to forestall the move, calling one of Iraq’s two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni Arab, and inviting him to Washington, according to a statement issued by Mr. Hashimi’s office and the White House.

The bloc, known as the Iraqi Consensus Front and made up of three Sunni Arab parties, “has lost hope in rectifying the situation despite all of its sincere and serious efforts to do so,” the statement said.

If the Sunni group followed through on its threat, it would further weaken a government already damaged by the pullout two weeks ago of six cabinet ministers aligned with the renegade Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr and further erode American efforts to promote reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/world/worldspecial/01iraq.html?hp

[whistle]

1. Will that cause the Iraqi Parliament to collapse forcing a new election?

[jmc247]

2. Only if they quit the parliment and the cabinet

Just quitting the cabinet doesn't force a new election.

[IndianaGreen]

3. I hope they quit! Al-Sadr's ministers quit the cabinet last week.

Let Maliki twist slowly in the wind!

[madrchsod]

4. this is what FAIR thinks of her reporting

"Critiquing reporter Alissa J. Rubin's remarkable achievement of whitewashing the U.S. occupation's role in Iraqi woes".

"To read this New York Times article about the troubled Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Adhamiya, just about everyone is a cause of the predominantly Sunni area's current heartache. Everyone, that is, except the U.S. military, which is mentioned nowhere in the 1,800-word piece. Not a single reference to the U.S. and Iraqi troop presence there, or the conspicuous lack thereof when Shia militias come calling. Not one mention of the numerous raids on houses and mosques there. Not one mention of the bombings during the 2003 invasion.... And we wonder why so many Americans think Iraqis are their own worst enemy. Maybe those same Americans read enlightened papers such as the Times.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=22&media_view_id=8625
Media Views Permalink

another link

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=22&media_view_id=8616
Media Views Permalink

[VegasWolf]

5. Yes, yes, come to Washington my friend, we have a full week of mind control, err, ahh, spa treatment

planned just for you!!!

[msongs]

6. those lackeys are taking a TWO month vacation soon while our troops die for them nt

[saltpoint]

7. This is kind of like a centrifugal force experiment with pieces and parts

flying off at every whirl.

Not good.