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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Iraqi Shia Trying to Form a Single Slate of Candidates for Elections |
| 2004-10-23 |
| From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Iraq's disparate Shi'a groups might have reached an agreement to form a single slate of candidates for the elections scheduled for January, the "Financial Times" reported on 21 October. Although senior Shi'a cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has not voiced his approval, his representative in Lebanon Hamid al-Khaffaf said that "a committee has been formed. It already started its work, praised be God," the "Financial Times" reported, citing Lebanese TV. "The committee will try to ensure that all Iraqis -- be they parties, movements, currents, or independents -- will be represented on one list. This list will be open to all," al-Khaffaf said. However, al-Sistani's representative in Dubai, Murtadha al-Kashmiri, contradicted the reports, saying that al-Sistani "will not choose the candidates for the election. That is for the people to decide." A representative for the Al-Dawah party, Jawad al-Maliki, said "there is a preliminary agreement between the various groups," but he did not disclose details. The United States reportedly opposes a single Shi'a list, favoring a "consensus" list that is not sectarian. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #4 First Stage democracy -- pretty darn cool! After all the practice they'll have working out compromises within the group -- and I rather imagine they will achieve no better than partial success toward their goal -- they will be much better prepared to deal with democracy on the national level. They have a lot of catching up to do to equal the Kurds, who've been working on it for over a decade. On the other hand, the Sunnis won't know what hit them if they don't quickly get up to speed (which they won't be able to do -- they have too long been accustomed to playing cock o'the walk. This will be a salutory experience for them.) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-10-23 10:04:41 PM |
| #3 "a committee has been formed. It already started its work, praised be God," Does anyone else have a problem with this? Politicians would be well advised to STFU about praising God and attend to their duties of improving the corporeal lives of those they represent. This inextricable intermingling of religion and government is a recipe for disaster. One need only examine how America's Office of Faith Based Giving is now funneling whatever part of a million dollars to self declared world messiah Sun Myung Moon's organization to understand how poisonous conflating church and state will always be. Again, when do we channel our hard-earned tax dollars to the (fully registered) Church of Satan? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-10-23 7:34:14 PM |
| #2 *snicker* Beat me to it, RWV! I was thinking along the same lines, but couldn't remember the names of any of those curly-haired boys who spin for Skeery... I should've thought of old Baldy! Perfect! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-10-23 2:36:56 PM |
| #1 We'll know they are really serious when they hire James Carville as a consultant. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-10-23 2:24:35 PM |