Seems to me this is getting close to the final death throws of the insurgency in Iraq. A Congress of leading Sunni organizations has been involved in discussions seeking concessions which will bring them into the political fold in assisting the drafting of the new Constitution. In response, the thugs have threatened to kill them if they continue to cooperate.
When the smaller group of Sunni thugs starts killing their own and setting off car bombs in Sunni marketplaces and Sunni mosques, the much larger group of Sunnis who want life to get back to normal will surely excise the thugs from their midst. These killings will be the final desperate acts prior to the end of the insurgency.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Leaders of Iraq’s Sunni Arabs set terms on Wednesday for their involvement in drafting a constitution, indicating they wanted about a third of the seats on the body that is supposed to propose a new text by August.
There was no immediate response from the Shi’ite-led government that took power in an election that the once dominant Sunni minority largely boycotted. Officials have said they could expand the parliamentary committee to bring in more Sunnis.
A congress of leading Sunni organizations resolved to end discussions on the constitution if they were not given a bigger representation on the negotiating body. Without their input, it may prove hard to avoid an effective Sunni veto at a referendum. Sunni guerrillas, on the other hand, oppose cooperation with the new administration or the U.S. occupying forces and issued new death threats against Sunni leaders engaged in discussions.
Re: Sunni Insurgents threaten to kill Sunni Leaders
These Sunni Arabs really don’t know how democracy works, do they? It seems their decades-long dominance over the majority has skewed their thought process. Boycott the elections and then demand 1/3 of the seats when they only represent 1/5 of the population? What do they use as leverage? Continued bombings of mosques and market places?
Too bad. You snooze, you lose, maybe next election. Now be good leaders by going home and putting your authority to the test by getting your bretheren to lay down their suicide belts.
Re: Sunni Insurgents threaten to kill Sunni Leaders
I dont think that the sunni political leaders are the same ones as sunni insurgents, otherwise why would the insurgents be threatening to kill them :)
and if the "brethren" was so much in awe of these leaders that they would listen to them, they surely would have followed their lead into goping into the political discussions too.
what does this mean for insurgents which are not Iraqi, as has been noted several times, Their allegience is not to sunni iraqi leaders, but to other forces.
Re: Sunni Insurgents threaten to kill Sunni Leaders
I don't think they are in awe of them either, but they are the political representatives of sunni Arabs. They should be doing more to get the majority peaceful sunni Arabs to flush out the terrorists before they go demanding 1/3 representation.
As far as the foreign fighters, I'm sure they are up for anybody being added to the kill list.
Re: Sunni Insurgents threaten to kill Sunni Leaders
^^ Fraudz: I think the point is that it's much more acceptable among Sunnis for Sunnis to kill Shias than it is for Sunnis to kill Sunnis. As long as Sunni thugs are only blowing up Shia marketplaces and killing Shia clerics, it's not so important for the other Sunnis they live amongst to turn them in or try to stop them.
Once the Sunni thugs start to kill and dismember Sunnis who are probably admired and liked by the general Sunni populace, you've got a different scenario on the ground.
The non-Iraqi insurgents thus far seem to share a sort of amiacable co-existence with the Iraqi Sunnis. If the non-Iraqi insurgents no longer have a safe haven to live among the Sunnis, they'll be flushed out like a covey of quaill.
Re: Sunni Insurgents threaten to kill Sunni Leaders
MV
lets address simple logic..its not a question of accepting, but people are less vocal becuase they are not in immediate imminent danger. selfish thinking indeed, but that does not mean support for the thugs.
The reverse is true in countries like Iran where Shia population did not speak out en masse against the actiosn against teh sunni minority, not because they supported it, but because it did not impact them directly.
Re: Sunni Insurgents threaten to kill Sunni Leaders
^^ Just a difference in semantics my friend. Once the Sunnis find themselves in immediate, imminent danger, they will become more vocally opposed (in your vernacular) and less accepting (in my vernacular). Either way, they will more actively root out the thugs from their midst and there will be less killings of both Shia and Sunnis. The end of the insurgecy is near. It will be pretty bloody in the end, but that's the way it goes.
Re: Sunni Insurgents threaten to kill Sunni Leaders
Yeah it sucks..who the hell wants this insurgency to end. We need more death of shiites..we need more bombs going off in markets. Yea for insurgency…death to the infidels and collaborators..
Re: Sunni Insurgents threaten to kill Sunni Leaders
See now one extreme looks very like the other, some times I'll be damned if I can spot the difference and pick up a free pair of immitation armani shades in the process.
Re: Sunni Insurgents threaten to kill Sunni Leaders
sorry MV, more vocally opposed is not the same as less accepting.
less “ignoring” maybe…less “ambivalent” maybe, less “accepting” denotes an acceptance, which I dont believe is the case.
Re: Sunni Insurgents threaten to kill Sunni Leaders
As an update, the Iraqi government has offered to increase the number of Sunnis on the committee to draft the Constitution to 15 which is the same level of representation of the Kurds. The Sunnis want 25 representatives. We’ll see where this goes. Seems pretty generous to me.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government said on Thursday it would give representatives of the restive Sunni Arab minority a greater role in drafting the country’s new constitution, but the offer fell short of Sunni demands. Leading officials in the committee tasked with writing the constitution by Aug. 15 said the size of the committee would be expanded to 69 people from 55. The number of Sunni Arab members would be raised to 15 from two, giving them the same level of representation in the body as the Kurds.
