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Iraq
Iraqi Parliament approves law to form federal regions
2006-10-12
The Iraqi Parliament on Wednesday approved a law that sets out the mechanics of forming federal regions, an issue the Sunni minority and some Shiites leaders and fear might tear the country apart in sectarian civil war. On the ground, militiamen firing mortars overnight detonated a US ammunition dump in Baghdad, sparking a barrage of explosions that continued to shake the capital on Wednesday morning.

The largest Sunni coalition in Parliament and two Shiite parties tried to prevent a vote on a bill by boycotting Wednesday's session to prevent the 275-seat body from reaching the necessary 50 percent quorum. But the quorum was reached with 140 lawmakers, who voted on each of the bill's some 200 articles individually, passing them all unanimously. The law includes a provision that regions cannot be formed for another 18 months, a concession to Sunni concerns.

“Sunnis fear a federal Iraq would hand northern and southern oilfields to ethnic Kurds and Shiites respectively, and would leave them trapped in a poor, desert rump state in central and western Iraq.”
The federalism law sets up a system for allowing provinces to join together into autonomous regions that would hold considerable self-rule powers, a right given to them under the Constitution adopted last year in a national referendum. Sunnis fear a federal Iraq would hand northern and southern oilfields to ethnic Kurds and Shiites respectively, and would leave them trapped in a poor, desert rump state in central and western Iraq.

Legislators loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the smaller Shiite Fadhila Party stayed away from Wednesday's vote, showing Shiite support for federalism is not unanimous. "This is the beginning of the plan to divide Iraq," said Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the Sunni National Accordance Front, which boycotted the vote.
Posted by:Fred & Seafarious

#7  On the other hand anon -- look at what the Palieo have done. They haven't missed a change to f--k themselves up yet.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2006-10-12 13:18  

#6  Â“Sunnis fear a federal Iraq would hand northern and southern oilfields to ethnic Kurds and Shiites respectively, and would leave them trapped in a poor, desert rump state in central and western Iraq.”

If I were the Sunni's I'd get some concessions and take it. They have the organizational skills, education, and know how. Look at what the Jews were able to do in Israel. Look at the Dutch. Look at the Mormons in Utah. I supsect that in a short while, the Sunnis could turn their little desert rump into a paradise.
Posted by: anon   2006-10-12 12:08  

#5  Can someone explain to me how this would be different from us having States in the US.

Virginian's are not mad that we don't have the Mississippi running through our backyard... or that we don't have the Alaskan oil fields...

If Iraq is truly going to be a democracy won't that mean that citizens can move where they want to and partake in any of the benefits that they percieve to be associated with a particular reigon?

I'm sorta new to this subject so some enlightenment would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Blackvenom-2001
Posted by: Blackvenom-2001   2006-10-12 11:36  

#4  You know, I doubt that Iraq has been fully explored. To presume the Sunnis are going to be shit out of luck for harboring and sponsoring a murderous killing spree for 2+ years resulting in effective partition and leaving them out of the oil money, cold, broke, and finally facing up to the fact that they're congenitally stupid, might be wrong. There could be spice worms in the western desert.
Posted by: .com   2006-10-12 07:47  

#3  The Kurdish zone has quite a bit of Iraq's oil in it, which is one of the reasons Saddam tried to exterminate the Kurds. Also, the Kurds have been bringing in Western oil firms to explore and develop new fields in the past year or so. The Sunnis are just SOL if the Kurds and Shiites decide to form federal regions that keep the lion's share of oil revenues in the region that produced it.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2006-10-12 03:57  

#2  I would be all for this years ago, but the country , the sunis, kurds, shia is going to have a hard time splitting up oil revs. I hope it's that easy but , I doubt it

Imagine Kurds and Sunni protecting slivers into the southern oil fields, they can't(won't) protect their own interest let alone a indefensible oil trac.

Can't see it , but if it works more power to them
Posted by: Dunno   2006-10-12 01:38  

#1  The Sunis dragged the war on too long. Arabs never seem to know when to fold their cards.
Posted by: 3dc   2006-10-12 01:32  

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