Sunni Party Withdraws From Democracy
By Charles Bird Posted in War — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Washington Post reporter Karl Vick writes of the largest Sunni political party withdrawing from the January 30th Iraqi election. The most galling bit of bias was the opening sentence: "The largest political party representing Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority announced Monday that it would drop out of the Jan. 30 election, dealing a fresh blow to the vote's credibility on the same day the top Shiite Muslim candidate survived a car bombing."
There is nothing amiss with the "vote's credibility", since Kurds and Shiites--80% of the country--are fully participating and an untold number of Sunnis will go to the polling places. The real issue is the Iraqi Islamic Party's credibility and their refusal to participate in representative democracy. If Sunni areas will be "alienated" as Vick alludes, it will be their own doing, or undoing as it were.
The Sunni political parties have chosen to be on the side of radical clerics and Osama bin Laden, who said in a recent audiotape that "anyone who takes part in this election consciously and willingly is an infidel". In effect, the Iraqi Islamic Party and other boycotting Sunni parties have answered the question as to whether they're with us or with the terrorists.
I suspect the real unsaid reason for the withdrawal is they'd rather bow out rather than be seen getting thrashed when the votes are tallied. A Sunni analyst agrees with my assessment.
Sadoun Dulame, a Sunni who heads the Iraq Center for Research and Strategic Studies, said turnout in Sunni areas is expected to be so low that the Iraqi Islamic Party withdrew rather than face defeat. Sadoun Dulame, a Sunni who heads the Iraq Center for Research and Strategic Studies, said turnout in Sunni areas is expected to be so low that the Iraqi Islamic Party withdrew rather than face defeat.
While I'd prefer that all political parties step in and participate, I'll settle for 80% and a crushing of the Sunni-dominated "insurgency".
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Which is why Vick's opening sentence was so irritating for me.
Here we go again. The NYT today, on page A9, I believe, has a headline about attacks on Shiites may lead to civil strife. Another NYT planted non-story. Sistani already made it clear that there will be no reprisals for attacks on Shiite holy sites because he knows they are a provocation to drag the country into civil way. He's not taking the bait, and from the looks of it, either are the "shiites in the street". The Shiites know they are going to win big and they are not going to screw it up. Personally, I expect lots of Sunnis to vote. It's my understanding that the entire country of Iraq is one precinct, which means any Iraqi can vote anywhere in the country. That may cut down on violence against Sunnis who vote, as they can vote anywhere they want. (And by the way, after voting, Iraqis will have their thumbs stained with indelible ink to prevent voter fraud. What a concept!)
It's been mentioned before, but if the Sunnis boycott the election, it will have no bearing on the outcome for the rest of the country. As has been mentioned elsewhere, we had an election here in 1864 during an insurrection. During El Salvador's civil way, elections were held while almost half the country was under rebel control. When the mass of the Sunnis see that the democratization is going forward without them, I think they will get onboard. But there will always be those Sunnis who will remain forever agrieved. They are the ones who will continue to fight the central government. It will be up to the new Iraqi government to deal with them, not us.