Sunni Accordance Front Quits Green Zone Government in Iraq-Nam

While the US surge of troops continues, the Iraq-Namese government for which GI Joes and Janes are dying took a big step backward in settling the country’s situation. After a week’s notice, the Sunni Accord Front withdrew its support for the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. While the government still retains a majority of seats in the parliament, its pretensions of being a government of “national unity” lie dead on the boulevard of broken dreams. For now, the Kurds are playing along because their freedom and autonomy are enhanced by the split among the nation’s Arabs. Nevertheless, the al-Maliki regime is now a government of the Shi’ite’s, by the Shi’ites and for the Shi’ites.

The Accord Front put a dozen demands to the government a week ago, and it set Wednesday as the deadline for those demands to be met. The government did nothing, and the Front’s ministers resigned: the ministers of culture, women, planning, and higher education, and the junior foreign affairs minister. The 44 members of parliament who belong to the Front now sit in opposition in the 275-member legislature, which is taking a month off (just like America’s Congress). Sunni Arab Defense Minister Abdel Qader Jassim remains in place, but he is not a member of the Front.

The politicians in the al-Maliki government have started a campaign to split the Accord Front, trying to peel away enough moderate members to be able to still pretend that there is substantial Sunni representation in the government. They might succeed in acquiring the support of the Iraqi National Dialogue Council, which is an umbrella group of 10 smallish parties, but that is all.

Meanwhile, the American military is reporting that the surge of troops into Iraq-Nam is helping reduce violence. That is not a surprise if it is true; sending in more troops usually results in more security. But the purpose of the surge is to buy time for the Iraq-Namese to settle their problems. The Accord Front pulling out of the government has made that unlikely now. The time bought with American, British and Iraq-Namese blood has been wasted, continues to be wasted, and one fears will be wasted indefinitely.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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