Sectarian break-up of Iraq

The sectarian break-up of Iraq is inevitable, according to senior Iraqi officials, Patrick Cockburn reported July 24, 2006, in the Independent (UK).

"'Iraq as a political project is finished,' a senior government official was quoted as saying, adding: 'The parties have moved to plan B.' He said that the Shia, Sunni and Kurdish parties were now looking at ways to divide Iraq between them and to decide the future of Baghdad, where there is a mixed population. 'There is serious talk of Baghdad being divided into [Shia] east and [Sunni] west,' he said," Cockburn wrote. (First reported by Reuters July 21, 2006.)

"A raging sectarian conflict and an insurgency aimed at ousting foreign troops and toppling the new government is threatening to tear Iraq apart," Reuters reported in July 2006.

"Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and hundreds of thousands uprooted since a U.S.-led invasion toppled the country's leader Saddam Hussein in 2003," Reuters wrote. "Kidnappings and suicide bombings have driven out many international organisations and aid workers have been abducted and killed."

"The invasion brought an end to sanctions and paved the way for elections and a new constitution. Billions of aid dollars have poured in to rebuild the country but the dire security situation and corruption have both hampered reconstruction. ... The International Crisis Group says in a 2006 report there are fears Iraq is 'teetering on the threshold of wholesale disaster', Reuters wrote.

Dismemberment was the plan

"The US and British leaders may be getting domestic flak for their perceived mistakes in Iraq, but some observers in the Arab world see them as being quite successful - in carrying out a well-calculated plan to divide the country," Ahmed Janabi wrote June 22, 2006, for Al Jazeera.

"The debate," he wrote, "dates back to July 13, 2003, when the Iraqi Governing Council was formed under Paul Bremer, the US administrator.

"Sectarianism and ethnic extremism were strengthened in that council and various laws have since encouraged an aggressive sectarianism leading to a fierce militia war," Janabi wrote.

Related SourceWatch Resources

• adapting to win
• Arab Spring
• civil war in Iraq
• democratization
• Iraqi Constitution
• Iraqi insurgency
• Iraqi national elections
• Iraqi sovereignty: June 30, 2004
• Iraqi unified resistance
• New Iraq
• Operation Iraqi Freedom
• post-war Iraq
• reconstruction of Iraq
• Shiite Muslim uprising in Iraq
• stay the course
• violence in the Middle East

External links

2004

• David Rieff, "The End of Empire. The war in Iraq was supposed to launch a bold new American foreign policy. But has the neoconservatives' grandiose dream ended before it began?" Mother Jones, May/June 2004.

2005

• Dilip Hiro, "Playing the Democracy Card" (Introduction by Tom Engelhardt), Mother Jones, May 17, 2005.

2006

June

• Ahmed Janabi, "Dismembering the body politic in Iraq," Al Jazeera, June 22, 2006.
• Amr Hamzawy, "Is the U.S. Through With Arab Democracy? Commentary: The Bush administration seems to be retreating from its former policy of democracy promotion in the Middle East," Mother Jones, June 26, 2006. (Article created by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.)
• Joshua Muravchik, "A Democracy Policy in Ashes," Washington Post, American Enterprise Institute, June 27, 2006.

July

• "Iraq in Turmoil," Reuters AlertNet, July 2006.
• Philip H. Gordon, "The End of the Bush Revolution," Foreign Affairs / Brookings Institution, July/August 2006.
• Richard Beeston, "If the militant gangs succeed, daily toll will be in thousands," Times Online (UK), July 10, 2006.
• Richard Beeston, "Mindless slaughter a calculated tactic," The Australian, July 11, 2006.
• Khaleb Khazari-El, "Sufism and the Struggle Within Islam", guerrilla news network: Part I: "Paradoxical legacies of the militant mystics", July 13, 2006; and "Can a peaceful Islamic tradition challenge Wahhabi fanaticism?" July 18, 2006.
• Peter W. Galbraith, "Iraq’s salvation lies in letting it break apart. The partition of Iraq into separate Kurdish, Sunni and Shi’ite areas is the only route to peace," The Sunday Times (Kurdish Aspect), July 16, 2006. (Extracted from The End of Iraq by Peter W. Galbraith, published by Simon & Schuster and released July 17, 2006.)
• Ahmed Rasheed, "In July, 30,000 more flee as Iraq violence deepens," Reuters (TheStar.com (Indonesia)), July 20, 2006.
• Mariam Karouny, "Gloom descends on Iraqi leaders as civil war looms," Reuters AlertNet, July 21, 2006.
• Ahmed Rasheed and Mariam Karouny, "Mosques bombed, tense Baghdad under curfew," Reuters, July 21, 2006.
• "Iraqis Mull Baghdad Division: Report," Islam Online, July 21, 2006.
• Mariam Karouny, "Iraq holds reconciliation talks amid scepticism," Reuters, July 22, 2006.
• Michael Abramowitz and Andy Mosher, "Iraqi Leader to Visit Bush; Talks to Focus on Violence," Washington Post, July 23, 2006.
• Alastair Mcdonald, "Analysis: Iraq PM's visit may be reality check in Washington," Reuters AlertNet, July 23, 2006.
• Judd Legum, "Bolten Says Iraqi Speaker, Who Called U.S. ‘Butchers,’ Appreciates ‘the Sacrifice Americans Have Made’," Think Progress, July 23, 2006.
• Patrick Cockburn, "Sectarian break-up of Iraq is now inevitable, admit officials," Independent (UK), July 24, 2006.
• James Hider, "Iraq leader meets Blair as security plan fails to halt killing," Times Online (UK), July 24, 2006.