(Iraq) Allawi warns of sectarian war

[sabra]

Source: SMH

BAGHDAD: Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister who scored a surprise win in the recent general election, has warned that Iraq risks descending into a new sectarian war.

Mr Allawi said that since the bitterly contested election on March 7, in which his Iraqiya party list won 91 seats, political groups had abandoned efforts to build a united government and were regressing into sectarianism, encouraged by Iran.

Mr Allawi, who led the country for nine turbulent months in 2004 as a US-appointed transitional prime minister, warned that unless the US and its allies safeguarded Iraq's nascent democracy, renewed conflict could spread around the region. ''This conflict will not remain within the borders of Iraq,'' he said. ''It will spill over and it has the potential to reach the world at large, not just neighbouring countries.

...

Mr Allawi's warning came on the most deadly day of violence in Iraq this year, with at least 114 people killed and at least 300 wounded in a spate of shootings and explosions.

The attacks on Monday stood out from other spikes in bloodshed over the past year. They were marked by precise bombings and assassinations, in all corners of the country.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/allawi-warns-of-sectarian-war-20100511-uuba.html

[ck4829]

1. Sad but understandable

The secular Sunnis, for all intents and purposes, won the elections. But Maliki, Chalabi, and Iranian-backed clerics have disenfranchised them, invalidated the seats the Sunnis have won, and have delayed and obstructed results and seating.

If the same happened here, if say back in 2006, we won the elections and a majority, but Republicans said "Sorry, it doesn't count." Would we have just sat around and said "oh... okay, We'll continue being in the minority if it makes you guys happy."?

[maxsolomon]

4. well, that's pretty much what happened in 2000...

the SCOTUS said "Sorry, it doesn't count", and we just sat around and said "oh... okay".

when will the civil war start? aren't we out in december 2011? i'd say january 2012. iraq will become 3 partitioned, ethnically cleansed countries and several hundred thousand will die.

which is what would have happened if we'd left in 2004.

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. Of course their will be blood

Millions of Americans have known since the beginning that invading Iraq would be the easy part AND that pulling out would unleash a civil war. It is as sure as the sun rising in the east. This is true now as it was then and will be in the future regardless of howm many more trillions of dollars are stolen from the American public to fund this war that was started based on lies and propaganda.

On edit: The phenomena of Americans willfully and completely denying the reality of the region's centuries long conflicts between rival sects and tribes is an amazing thing to behold and will probably be studied in great length by future historians.

[Possumpoint]

3. 1350 Or More Years

The Sunni's and Shiite's have been fighting and killing each other. Who are we to think we're going to stop it. Frankly, at times, I think let them have at it. They're less likely to be attacking us then.