“The Iraqi government and its American minders cannot win the trust and confidence of the Sunni community and parties unless Sunni security concerns are adequately addressed.”

EDITORIAL

December 18, 2006
Khaleej Times - U.A.E. - Original Article (English)    

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki addresses a reconciliation
conference for Iraqi political forces that almost no one thinks
will so any good, partly because the attendees all have a vested
interest on continuing the bloodshed, and also because many of
those involved with the killing refused to attend, Dec. 16.

—BBC NEWS VIDEO: Reconciliation conference
aims to end bloodshed, Dec. 16, 00:01:46

[LATEST NEWS PHOTOS: Iraq].

Reconciliation conference attendees meet. The event reportedly
ended without result, but additional meetings are planned. (below)




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COMMON sense at last appears to have dawned on Iraq's rulers. At a national reconciliation conference in Baghdad yesterday, Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki reached out to the alienated Sunni community, appealing to ex officers and other top guns of Saddam Hussein's army and security forces to join Iraq's new army.

In the chaos following the American invasion, this newspaper and other Arab and Middle East media repeatedly warned the U.S.-led coalition against messing with the security structure and upsetting Iraq's balance of power. But just as the rest of the government machinery collapsed, the hubris and myopia that accompanied the invasion resulted in the disbanding of the Iraqi army, one of the best in the region.

Iraq has paid a monumental price for that incredibly shortsighted and disastrous move.

Insurgent groups and Shia militias effortlessly stepped into the resulting political and security vacuum and unleashed horrific destruction on Iraq's unsuspecting people. More than half a million precious lives have already been lost, not to mention the exodus of hundreds of thousands of people to neighboring countries every month.

This is why Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki's appeal to Sunni political parties and former military officers is significant. Iraq would have been spared much bloodshed if its leaders had done this earlier. Nevertheless, the move is welcome.

But none of this will work if the government and governing Shiite alliance don't rein in the many militias being run and controlled by political parties that are part of the alliance. Moqtada Sadr's group, which has a substantial presence in parliament and literally controls Maliki's government is seen as responsible for most of the sectarian killings in Sunni neighborhoods. Scores of bodies with their hands tied behind their backs are discovered daily in Baghdad's Sunni neighborhoods.

The Iraqi government and its American minders cannot win the trust and confidence of the Sunni community and parties unless Sunni security concerns are adequately addressed. Prime Minister Maliki will have to assert himself and control allies like Sadr if he wants to be seen as the leader of all Iraqi people. Only honesty of intention and commitment to fairness and justice will bring peace and order back to Iraq.

VIDEO FROM IRAN: RABBI SAYS

ZIONISTS EXPLOIT HOLOCAUST

Al-Alam TV: Excerpts from interviews with Neturei Karta rabbis in Iran, Mar. 5, 00:02:05, MEMRI

"We have come to Tehran to make it clear that the State of Israel does not represent all the Jews. It might represent their own ideas, which are very far from those of the Jewish people."