tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14162253.post8660913958185770130..comments2024-03-27T08:39:28.807-06:00Comments on Wash Park Prophet: Iraq's 2005 Election And Its AftermathAndrew Oh-Willekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02537151821869153861noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14162253.post-44237086356951384292007-10-01T17:01:00.000-06:002007-10-01T17:01:00.000-06:00Juan Cole notes:"The US embassy in Baghad on Sunda...Juan Cole notes:<BR/><BR/>"The US embassy in Baghad on Sunday condemned the US Senate resolution calling for a soft partition of Iraq.<BR/><BR/>One mystery about all the denunciations of the Senate vote is that the resolution the senators passed is just the plan of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a central member of the (Shiite) United Iraqi Alliance, which rules Iraq. Al-Hakim pushed through parliament (by a simple majority with barely a quorum) his plan for an 8-province Shiite confederacy last October. The only concession he had to give was to wait 18 months, (i.e. until next March) to proceed. Of course, the al-Hakim plan differs from that of Biden in not forcing the Sunni Arabs to form a regional government of their own. (The Sunni Arabs don't like the idea of provincial confederacies, preferring strong central government rule a la France.) <BR/><BR/>The resemblance between the al-Hakim plan and that of Joe Biden is an embarrassment to ISCI, since the US is not popular in Iraq. Radio Sawa reports in Arabic that Ammar al-Hakim (the son and currently plenipotentiary of Abdul Aziz, who is in Iran for cancer treatment) denied the similarity and expressed amazement that the US Senate should try to legislate on such a matter. His denials do not strike me as convincing-- and they lack any specifics."Andrew Oh-Willekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02537151821869153861noreply@blogger.com