Three key Sunni Arab lawmakers have resigned from the dominant United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), Aljazeera has learned. The three, Fawaz al-Jarba, Mudhar Shawkat and Abd al-Rahman al-Niaimi, announced their resignation on Tuesday from the UIA which is led by Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim. | Fine. Seethe and be damned. |
The three MPs said they were resigning in protest against the attempt to marginalise Sunni Arabs. | Seems to me the Sunnis are the ones doing all the marginalizing. |
They also expressed resentment against what they called foreign interference in ministry-making decisions, reported Aljazeera. The three Sunni MPs had fought the 30 January elections on the UIA platform which won 140 of the 275 seats. Al-Jarba was in the running for vice-president before Ghazi al-Yawir was chosen for the post.| Hmmm. They're members of a party that controls 140 seats out of 275. Sounds pretty darn marginal to me. |
Their decision to quit came even as the five-man committee representing Sunni Arabs and headed by Vice-President al-Yawir held a meeting with Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jafari to review allocation of ministerial portfolios, Aljazeera said, quoting informed Iraqi sources. The meeting discussed the possibility of including another ministerial portfolio for the Sunni Arabs. "The ministries offered to us, that of culture, governorate affairs, labour and social affairs should be replaced with that of education, commerce, planning, public works and housing, for example."| Sorry. Sunnis are not to be trusted with education. And the Sunni clans can't have all the public works projects. Thanks for playing, better luck next time. |
Sunni Arabs have demanded the post of deputy prime minister, the portfolio of education besides six other ministries. Spokesman of the Iraqi National Front Tariq al-Hashimi told Aljazeera there were intense negotiations with al-Jafari. "We received an offer for six portfolios to our demand for seven. The basic problem relates to the portfolios," he said. |