Pepe Escobar in the Asia Times:
To say that Sunnis are angry would be an understatement. Powerful Sunni tribal Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawer, one of the vice presidents, is threatening that all Sunnis may withdraw from the government – because this cabinet lineup is not what they had agreed to with Jaafari. No wonder: Sunnis wanted to finish off once and for all with de-Ba’athification, and insisted on a very firm Arab nationalist government.Shi’ites from religious parties would never agree to these demands. Some Sunnis have already pulled out, such as the Front of Sunni Arab Blocs, which includes the Front of National Blocs and the National Dialogue Council. The Sunnis wanted seven ministries, especially Defense (they will probably get it; Jaafari is the acting minister). An alert Sistani was wise enough to have pressed for 10 ministries for the Sunnis. [...]
As things stand, there’s not a chance of the new government and parliament writing a draft constitution by mid-August. The political calendar will have to be delayed. Ominous signs abound. Moderates are dwindling, such as respected former diplomat Adnan Pachachi: he fled to the United Arab Emirates, perhaps in disgust, after his secular list received only one parliamentary seat in the elections.
The unsettling feeling about the cabinet is that it is hostage to a big picture it won’t be able to control. This is because the foundations for a new Iraq – in fact, the Year Zero imposed by the Americans after Shock and Awe – simply do not exist.
It makes me sad to know that so many preferred to jump on the public relations bandwagon and support an administration and its plans without fully understanding the realities on the ground in Iraq first.
The US waged a military and propaganda war on Iraq. The problem is: such tactics do not work on a population that hates you. Trying to make them love you doesn’t work either. If you occupy a nation by force, you will be vilified. Period. At no time in history has an occupying force, which did so by killing civilians, been welcomed as a liberating force by the majority public of that occupied nation. It simply does not work that way. You can’t kill members of a social structure and then expect the surviving memebers of that structure to embrace you or your ideals.
It’s basic social anthropology. People respond in kind to violence and perceived oppression, regardless of the occupiers goals and intentions. In this case, the Iraqi’s are becomeing more and more angry with the USA, (as is the entire world btw) and the escalating situation is in the long run harming us here at home.
