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Hakim Pays Rare Visit to Anbar in a Major Gesture
In a major reconciliatory gesture, a leader from Iraq’s largest Shiite party has paid a rare visit to the Sunni Anbar province, delivering a message of unity to tribal sheikhs who have staged a US-backed revolt against Al-Qaeda militants.
Smart move.
The leader of Parliament’s largest Sunni Arab bloc, Adnan Al-Dulaimi, welcomed Ammar Al-Hakim’s visit to Anbar on Sunday as a “good initiative, saying Shiite-Sunni reconciliation was a goal cherished by his once-dominant Sunni Arab minority. “This is what we hope, and we pray to Allah for,” Al-Dulaimi, whose three-party alliance has 44 of parliament’s 275 seats, told The Associated Press yesterday. “We pray to God to make our Shiite brothers ... give us our due rights and not monopolize power.”

Hakim’s visit to Anbar was the latest sign that key Iraqi politicians may be working toward reconciliation independently of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s government, which has faced criticism for doing little to bring together Iraq’s Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis.

Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq Al-Hashemi visited Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, last month at the holy city of Najaf south of Baghdad. The visit amounted to an unprecedented Sunni Arab endorsement of Sistani’s role as the nation’s guardian.
Another smart move.
Hashemi’s Iraqi Islamic Party also has been distancing itself from militant Sunni Arab groups and has in recent months forged closer ties with Hakim’s Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the country’s largest Shiite party, and the two major Kurdish parties.
Posted by: Fred 2007-10-16
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=202615