Salaam,
Iraq to split into 3.
[PIE] Iraq moves toward federal system
Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, The New York Times
Published: October 11, 2006
BAGHDAD The Shiite-dominated Parliament passed a law Wednesday allowing the formation of federal regions in Iraq, despite opposition from Sunni lawmakers and some Shiites who say it will dismember the country and fuel sectarian violence.
In Parliament, the Sunni coalition and two Shiite parties tried to prevent a vote on the federalism bill by boycotting the session Wednesday. They hoped to prevent the 275-seat body from reaching the quorum of 50 percent.
But the quorum was reached with 140 lawmakers, who voted on each of the bill's roughly 200 articles individually, passing them all unanimously.
"This is the beginning of the plan to divide Iraq," said Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the Sunni National Accordance Front, which boycotted the vote along with the radical Shiite cleric Moktada Sadr's party and the Shiite Fadila party. "We had hoped that the problems of sectarian violence would be resolved. We hope there won't be an increase in violence."
The bloodshed showed little sign of easing Wednesday, when at least five bombs exploded in different sections of Baghdad, killing at least six people and wounding more than a dozen, and the authorities discovered more bodies.
Also, the U.S. Army chief said that it planned to keep the current level of soldiers in Iraq through 2010, a later date than officials from the Bush administration or the Defense Department had previously mentioned. (Page 5)
The comments by the army chief of staff, General Peter Schoomaker, come as Iraq has become a central issue in the U.S. midterm elections in November. It was the latest acknowledgment by a Pentagon official that a significant withdrawal of troops from Iraq was not likely in the immediate future.
The law passed Wednesday includes a provision that regions cannot be formed for another 18 months, a concession to Sunni concerns.
The federalism law sets up a system for allowing provinces to join together into autonomous regions that would hold considerable powers of self-rule, a right given to them under the Constitution adopted last year in a national referendum.
Some Shiites want to create an autonomous zone in their heartland in the south, much like the self-ruling Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
But Sunni Arabs oppose the federalism measures, fearing that they will divide Iraq into sectarian mini-states, giving Shiite and Kurds control over oil riches in the south and north, and leaving Sunnis in an impoverished central zone without resources. Some Shiite parties, including the faction of al-Sadr, also oppose the measures for nationalistic reasons.
Critics have also have warned that moves for federalism could fuel Shiite- Sunni violence.
The head of the Shiite coalition that dominates Parliament, Abdul-Aziz al- Hakim, praised the passage of the bill and denounced Sunni opposition to federalism. Sunni Arabs largely voted against the Constitution passed in 2005 because it outlined the federal system.
The law outlines a process for forming regions, requiring any province considering joining a region to hold a referendum, if a third of the provincial legislators request it.
Meanwhile, the sectarian violence has continued to grow. Dozens of corpses have been found in the capital in the past three days, usually riddled with bullets and bearing signs of torture.
Four more were found Wednesday in the Dora neighborhood of southern Baghdad, an area that was among the earliest to experience the sectarian bloodletting that is plaguing the capital. Dora is at the center of the American military's push to quell the violence and secure the capital.
American and Iraqi soldiers moved into Dora and other parts of Baghdad in force in August, as part of a new security plan for the capital that involved neighborhood-by-neighborhood sweeps.
Elsewhere, four civilians were killed when a concealed bomb blew up in the al-Amel neighborhood of west Baghdad, according to an employee at the Yarmuk hospital. Two more people were killed in another attack, the employee said.
A roadside bomb apparently meant to strike an Iraqi police patrol exploded under a bridge in east Baghdad, wounding three policemen, and then nearby a car bomb exploded, wounding five civilians.
Coalition headquarters said Wednesday that four more U.S. soldiers had been killed in action in Iraq, bringing to 40 the number of troops who have died this month.
A series of huge explosions that rattled the capital late Tuesday were caused when a mortar shell, apparently fired by insurgents, struck an ammunition holding area at an American base in the southern part of the city, the American military said.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Withington, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division, the mortar shell set off a fire that then exploded tank and artillery shells and other ammunition stored at the base. No injuries were reported in the explosions.[/PIE]
And so the split has begun.Inteded from the beginning.
What is weird is that the western media like to divide Kurds and Sunnnis,when the Kurds are sunni.
A thrird divide that the western world wishes to widen more.
As i ahve always said,the US likes to use proxies to fight to fight for them.
And now the Iraqis have fallen in the same way.
And guess whose idea was it to split Iraq?
[PIE]AN independent commission set up by Congress with the approval of President George W Bush may recommend carving up Iraq into three highly autonomous regions, according to well informed sources.[/PIE]
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...393750,00.html
And so the invaders,not content to invade a coutnrry and murder so many,not intend to cut a sovereign county thru their proxies.
A sad day for this to happen.
THe Ummah destroys itself by relying on othr for protectiona dn guide.
The Ummah destroy itself by seeking wealth and safety thru western avenues.
They are protectors of themsevles ony.
It is written in the Quran but they wont read it.