[antimedia] antimedia: Some say Iraq is descending into civil war....

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Posted by antimedia:
Some say Iraq is descending into civil war....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1155009612.shtml


   ....others say it already is a civil war. [1]Not so fast, say Iraqis.

     Iraqi politics continues its realignment as the Sunni Muslim
     Scholars Association (MSA) turns from viewing the radical cleric
     Muqtada al-Sadr and his Sadriya movement as their natural allies
     among Iraqi Shia to renewed dialogue with the more moderate SCIRI,
     which is head of the ruling United Iraqi Alliance. One of the more
     interesting developments of 2005 was a kind of de facto alliance
     between the intensely anti-American MSA and the Sadriya. Yet over
     the past year, the MSA has gradually distanced itself further and
     further from foreign jihadists such as al-Qaeda and have at the
     same time come to blame Sadrâs Mahdi Army for both vigilante
     violence against Sunni militants and atrocities against Sunni
     civilians.
     As reported in the international Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, MSA
     member âAsam al-Rawi blamed the failure of talks between the MSA
     and Shia leaders on the fact that militias had come to control some
     areas of Baghdad, an implicit reference to Sadrâs Mahdi Army, and
     al-Qaeda others. He then explicitly stated that this was the cause
     of the âspoiling of the close ties which had existed between the
     association and the Sadr faction.â Rawi was further quoted as
     saying that militia factions sought to destroy the reconciliation
     initiative of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, âcalling on the
     necessity of the Sadr faction to recognize the initiative.â
     Al-Hayat went on to quote him saying that Malikiâs initiative had
     not yet succeeded, explicitly blaming the Shia militia.

   Sunni Muslims all over the MidEast must be looking on recent
   developments in Lebanon and Iran with trepidation. "Experts" have
   already been surprised by the flaccid reaction of Arab nations to the
   Hezbollah-initiated, Iranian sponsored war in Lebanon.
   Perhaps the same "realignment" is going on all over the MidEast that
   is already taking place in Iraq. For Sunnis, making peace with the
   government (and by extension, America) may be the lesser of two great
   evils.

     On a related point, the Iraqi newspaper Al-Rafidayn reports that
     the National Reconciliation Committee, led by Akram al-Hakim,
     agreed upon four conferences to be held by the end of the year -
     1) a conference of parties which have not yet joined the political
     process,
     2) a conference of Shia and Sunni religious scholars which would
     take place in Jordan or Saudi Arabia,
     3) a conference for civil society organizations, and
     4) a conference for Iraqâs tribes.
     Akram was quoted as saying that of the Sunni insurgent factions
     with which he was now discussing terms, one was an armed faction of
     major significance.

   These are interesting times.

References

   1. http://inbrief.threatswatch.org/2006/08/multiple-raids-on-mahdi-army-d/