Post by Admin Tyler on Jan 27, 2006 12:38:32 GMT -5
FISTICUFFS ERUPTS IN IRAQI PARLIAMENT
Shiites and Sunnis Brawl Over Foreign Policy
BAGHDAD, Iraq-
It started out as an Islamic prayer in the Iraqi Parliament to honor 81 men and women who perished yesterday in a sudden rash of terror bombings in the southern city of Basra. What it ended up as was a fist fight between Sunnis and Shiites over relations with Iran.
Onlookers tried to hold back about a dozen members of each party as Sunnis accused the Shiite leadership of "threatening to sell out to Iran" while Shiites responded by blaming the Sunnis for "decades of oppression". The fight was eventually broken up by several members of the Kurdish delegation, and Parliament was adjourned for the rest of the day.
Sunnis look unfavorably upon both Iran, which is decisively pro-Shiite, and the United States, which has relegated them to a minority status in Iraq. Shiites themselves are split over the issue of Iran, however. While Shiites have enjoyed a strong relationship with the United States since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, Shiites have always been traditionally close to a like-minded Iran. The intraparty fighting is likely to slow any chance of action being taken for or against Iran; this and the fact that they must work with the unreceptive Sunnis.
Kurds, on the other hand, have played the card of reason in the matter. The increasingly popular Kurdish President Temen Karvani has rallied voters around him in the next Iraqi election cycle. Although Karvani represents the small Kurdish faction, his ability to get compromises out of the Sunnis and Shiites in Parliament has earned him the respect of even Muslims in Iraq.
Shiites and Sunnis Brawl Over Foreign Policy
BAGHDAD, Iraq-
It started out as an Islamic prayer in the Iraqi Parliament to honor 81 men and women who perished yesterday in a sudden rash of terror bombings in the southern city of Basra. What it ended up as was a fist fight between Sunnis and Shiites over relations with Iran.
Onlookers tried to hold back about a dozen members of each party as Sunnis accused the Shiite leadership of "threatening to sell out to Iran" while Shiites responded by blaming the Sunnis for "decades of oppression". The fight was eventually broken up by several members of the Kurdish delegation, and Parliament was adjourned for the rest of the day.
Sunnis look unfavorably upon both Iran, which is decisively pro-Shiite, and the United States, which has relegated them to a minority status in Iraq. Shiites themselves are split over the issue of Iran, however. While Shiites have enjoyed a strong relationship with the United States since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, Shiites have always been traditionally close to a like-minded Iran. The intraparty fighting is likely to slow any chance of action being taken for or against Iran; this and the fact that they must work with the unreceptive Sunnis.
Kurds, on the other hand, have played the card of reason in the matter. The increasingly popular Kurdish President Temen Karvani has rallied voters around him in the next Iraqi election cycle. Although Karvani represents the small Kurdish faction, his ability to get compromises out of the Sunnis and Shiites in Parliament has earned him the respect of even Muslims in Iraq.