Putin Threatens with Afghan War
In parallel with a decision on Iran postponed over an over and with the Iraqi turmoil in the background, mostly staged in order to postpone a decision on the formation of the new government and to press for boosting the Sunnis’ presence in the Iraqi political framework,
on RIA Novosti website, an article entitled: “U.S. might be dragging NATO into new Afghan
war”, that claims “just an opinion” of an unknown journalist, tops the Russian news for a few days.
~Vera
U.S. might be dragging NATO into new Afghan war | |||||
|
Moscow. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Goncharov.) – The United States, in a manner that is already becoming hard to ignore, is clearly doing its best to drag the Atlantic Alliance into a new Afghan war.
Committing to build up the NATO peacekeeping force in Afghanistan to 15,000 last October, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer left an impression that the Alliance was just going to expand the area of responsibility of its International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). This deployment had been made reluctantly under intense pressure from Washington who sought to share at least part of responsibility for Afghanistan action with its European allies and was therefore encumbered with a tight ring fence of self-imposed limitations.
In the first two to three years of the broader counter-terrorist Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. did not doubt its future success. In a media questions session at the U.S. base in Bagram on Christmas Eve 2003, Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers and David Barno, the allied commanding general, were very optimistic about Enduring Freedom and said the U.S. presence in Afghanistan would not last longer than the situation required. Now, in fact, the situation seems to require more ISAF contingents and a larger area of responsibility.
There is a rumor in the media that the current ISAF area of responsibility, which does not go far beyond the loyal capital Kabul and northern and western provinces bordering on Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran, will expand into volatile southern provinces, and the Allied Command
will send around 6,000 British, Canadians and Dutch there.
Southern provinces Zabol, Kandahar, and Helmand, and eastern Paktia, Paktika, and Khost, broadly known as a “Pushtu tribal area”, have long been an engine of instability for the whole country, which comes as no surprise as its Pakistani border has been porous and insecure since the early days of the Afghan statehood, whoever was in power. This area, where it is unclear at what point Afghanistan ends and Pakistan begins, is the most volatile; it is home to al-Qaeda leftovers and rebounding Taliban.
Of course the multinational force will all but reach its stated goal to ensure security and stability across Afghanistan if it builds on the “assistance from a moderate U.S. capability” to
secure control over the south and east of the country, but that would require a huge military operation. Though the United States will doubtless take the lead in military action, it will be hard for the ISAF Canadian, Dutch, and British forces to stay firmly within their self-imposed police mandate.
Involvement in military action seems to be the last thing ISAF wants. Its carefully built peacekeeping image and hard-earned grass-root loyalty rely heavily on the public perception of their mission there as protecting peace, rather than spreading war.
Germany, France, and Spain have repeatedly denied their men in Afghanistan would be in any way involved in U.S.-led counter-terrorist military activities. But a decision in favor of an additional
deployment in the south would signal that the U.S. pressure has worked, and NATO is being finally drawn into military action.
In fact, the U.S. has little choice but to get other Western countries equally involved in military operations in Afghanistan as a country that has so far remained largely out of U.S. control could turn into a crucial toehold if the looming prospect of an Iraq-style military attack against Iran becomes reality. If Tehran finally defies European pleas and American demands and goes on with its efforts to build a full-cycle enrichment capability – which looks highly likely – the time-pressed Washington will very soon be facing a dilemma of attacking Iran and beginning a two-front war or looking impassively at the emergence of a new nuclear power. To wage a war against Iran without a secure Afghanistan in the back would be insane.
That a NATO deployment in the southern and central parts of Afghanistan will give the Alliance and the U.S. a military edge is beyond doubt, but whether the end is worth the investment remains unclear. As the peacekeeper image evaporates, the southern NATO task force might face intense resistance and casualties (and Uruzgan province where the Dutch contingent will be deployed is no exception), which will not be welcome back home and might undermine the whole idea of bringing peace to a war-torn country.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the RIA Novosti editorial board.
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Curfew stalls Iraq bloodshed
Fri Feb 24, 2006 6:34 PM ET
By Alastair Macdonald and Lutfi Abu Oun
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A curfew in Baghdad and calls for Muslim unity at Friday prayers across Iraq eased sectarian violence that has raised fears of civil war but, amid clashes after dark, police banned cars from the roads for another day.
Gunmen, some firing rockets, attacked Sunni mosques in two Baghdad districts, including the Sunnis' revered Abu Hanifa shrine, police said, adding that police and Iraqi troops repelled assailants who wore the black of Shi'ite militias.
Casualties would add to the 200 dead in Baghdad alone since reprisals against minority Sunni mosques began with a suspected al Qaeda bombing of a Shi'ite shrine on Wednesday pitching Iraq into its worst crisis since the U.S. invasion of 2003.
"This is a moment of
choosing for the Iraqi people," said President George W. Bush, who hopes an end to violence can let him bring U.S. troops home. "The coming days will be intense."
"Sunni and Shi'ite clerics and political leaders have made great efforts and the situation is better," a senior Shi'ite politician said. "But ... Iraq is still in the danger zone."
Officials said the daylight curfew, imposed on Friday and largely successful in staunching sectarian bloodshed during the day, would now last for vehicles until 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Commanders said a U.S. rapid reaction force was in position.
"We are not enemies but brothers," radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said in a statement to followers who marched in their thousands in their Baghdad stronghold and elsewhere.
He denies sending his black-clad Mehdi Army against Sunni targets; but the show of force by rival Shi'ite factions over three days may have strengthened their hands in U.S.-sponsored negotiations on a national unity coalition, both against others in the Shi'ite-led interim government and worried Sunnis.
IRAQI FORCES
The Shi'ite fury that has stalled the talks by prompting a Sunni boycott is greater than any provoked by al Qaeda and other Sunni rebel attacks that have killed thousands since U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime three years ago.
Untested, U.S.-trained Iraqi police and troops blocked roads across Baghdad. U.S. patrols, widely resented by both sides, kept a low profile. The new Iraqi forces are drawn heavily from rival militias, and their loyalty may be tested in any battle.
U.S. Colonel Jeffrey Snow said if Iraqi forces needed help "we would be able to respond in a quick fashion".
Elsewhere, including the second city of Basra which has also seen violence, there was neither a curfew nor much trouble.
Police sources said 20 people had been killed around Baghdad, compared with nearly 180 over the preceding two days.
City center streets -- and mosques -- were largely
deserted but in neighborhoods where people felt confident they were among fellow Sunnis or Shi'ites crowds walked to prayers to hear sermons calling for Muslim unity and warning against division.
"Anyone who attacks a Muslim is not a Muslim," said Sadr.
State television read out a lengthy statement in a similar vein from Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the pro-Iranian SCIRI party which runs the heavily armed Shi'ite Badr movement.
"What happened at the (Shi'ite) shrine was an attempt to divide
Muslims," a Sunni preacher in Baghdad told worshippers.
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shi'ite, said the state would rebuild mosques and may give them a special guard force.
"Each side is trying to calm its people down," one senior government official told Reuters. "But it's still tough."
U.S. APPEAL
U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who
angered Shi'ites this week by pressuring the Islamists to make room in government for Sunnis, said: "The events of the last few days reinforce the need for Iraq to have a government of national unity."
The main Sunni bloc pulled out of coalition negotiations that followed its participation in a December election; it accused Shi'ite leaders of fomenting the revenge attacks after the destruction of the Shi'ite Golden Mosque in Samarra.
Iraqi and U.S. officials blamed the bloodless but symbolic attack on al Qaeda;
it in turn accused Shi'ites of carrying out the bombing to provide an excuse for attacks on Sunnis.
Abroad, there has been concern that Iraqi sectarian violence could inflame the entire Middle East if it gets out of hand.
In Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, leading cleric Salah al-Qaaid told worshippers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca: "It is not in Iraq's interest to rush to blame people, or take revenge."
Shi'ite Iran maintained its fiery rhetoric against the U.S. occupation; some suspect Tehran may try to divert U.S. pressure on it by fuelling trouble in Iraq.
Senior Iraqi officials said leading clerics, including the revered Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, were straining to rein in Shi'ite militants -- but might not be able to do so forever.
"This government took the right step in imposing a curfew, but it is a temporary solution," said Iraqi political analyst Mustafa al-Ani. "If these incidents happen again and again, people will stop heeding the
curfew and it will lose control."
(Additional reporting by Lin Noueihed, Michael Georgy, Salem al-Oreibi and Nick Olivari in Baghdad, Sami al-Jumaili in Kerbala, Abdelrazzak Hameed in Basra, Andrew Hammond in Riyadh, Steve Holland and Will Dunham in Washington and Mariam Karouny and Ibon Villelabeitia)
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Sunni Party Quits Iraq Government Talks After Mosque Bombing
Posted GMT 2-23-2006 18:19:13
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's most powerful Sunni Muslim party quit talks to form a new government Thursday after reprisal attacks for the bombing of an important Shiite mosque.
Amid reports of more than 100 killings nationwide -- many of them Sunni Muslims -- the Sunni Accord Front announced it is leaving political unity talks after meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
The Accord Front received 44 seats in December's election for the 275-member Iraqi parliament and has been working with Kurds, Shiites and other Sunnis to cobble
together a government.
Including Sunnis in the government is seen as key to establishing law and order and defeating Iraq's insurgency, whose supporters are largely Sunni.
Shiites were largely persecuted by ruling minority Sunnis during the reign of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
The killings followed widespread Shiite protests after Wednesday's bombing of the Al-Askariya Shiite mosque -- also known as the Golden Mosque -- in Samarra.
Southeast of Baghdad, both Sunnis and Shiites joined to protest the bombing and reprisal attacks Thursday in the town of Kut, police said. Thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets saying that they are "all Iraqis."
Meanwhile, seven U.S. soldiers were killed in two roadside bombings north of Baghdad Wednesday, the U.S. military said.
Four soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, were killed near Hawija.
Three Task
Force Band of Brothers Soldiers from the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, were killed near Balad.
Their deaths brought the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war to 2,285, according to military reports. 'Thumbprints of terrorists'
U.S. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told reporters in Baghdad Thursday that the mosque attack is under investigation, but said the military is "absolutely convinced the thumbprints of terrorists are all over this."
"It's clearly the signature of [Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi] and terrorists and foreign fighters," Lynch said.
He praised the Iraqi government's "capable" leadership in reaction to the violence, such as enforcing curfews, calling for calm, recalling security forces on leave, and increasing security around shrines and political buildings.
He said coalition forces are deployed in reaction to the violence "but they are not in the lead." Bush: Bombing 'evil act'
President Bush, speaking at Thursday's White House Cabinet meeting, reiterated U.S. resolve to help Iraq rebuild
the holy site.
"Voices of reason in all aspects of Iraqi life understand that this bombing is intended to create civil strife," Bush said, adding that the "act was an evil act. The destruction of a holy site is political act intending to create strife."
Iraqi President Talabani, speaking to reporters, urged all parties in Iraq to condemn the violence and agree on the need to have a government of national unity that can work toward keeping the peace and fighting terrorism.
"If the flames of division get enraged, God forbid, they won't
help anyone," Talabani said. "No one will be spared. Putting those flames out is a sacred duty of all Iraqis and a must in order to achieve a unified democratic Iraq."
Sunnis killed
At least 54 Sunnis are believed to have been killed since the Golden Temple bombing including imams, worshippers and bystanders, according to police figures.
Separately, the bodies of 47 unidentified people who'd been shot were found Thursday southeast of Baquba.
While reporting on the Samarra attack, three journalists for Al-Arabiya television, including a female correspondent, were kidnapped and killed, police and the Arabic-language channel said.
An explosion killed 16 people Thursday and wounded 20 others in Baquba. Five people were killed and 10 others were wounded in another Baquba blast Thursday that's suspected of being a suicide bombing.
Iraqi police found six bodies Thursday -- all presumed to be Sunni -- in the Dora neighborhood of southern Baghdad.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most powerful Shiite cleric in Iraq, called on the government to take charge of the situation before the general public does.
"The Iraqi government is asked today to fulfill its responsibility to prevent attacks against holy shrines," he said Wednesday. "If its security forces are not able to secure these sites, then the believers are capable to do so with the help of Allah."
The nationwide violence ignited after the mosque was bombed by attackers dressed as Iraqi police commandos. The attack immediately enraged Iraq's majority Shiite Muslim community, sparking large protests in several cities.
Sunni boycott
Before announcing it was quitting talks to form a new government, the Iraqi Accord Front boycotted a meeting called by Iraqi President Talabani to discuss the Al-Askariya attack and sectarian tensions.
According to Iyad al-Samarrai, a senior member of the IAF, the group skipped the meeting because of reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and what he said was the failure of the government condemn or prevent them.
Samarrai said at least 100 Sunni locations have been attacked since the bombing of the Shiite shrine, including Sunni political parties offices and mosques.
In a letter to the president's office, the Iraqi Accordance Front said it wants:
· Condemnation by the
government and all parties of the attacks against Sunni mosques and locations.
· Investigation into the attacks.
· Compensation for all damages sustained.
© 2006, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved.
| UK urges 'united' Iraq government | |||
UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has urged Iraqi leaders to put aside sectarian interests and form a government of national unity. December's election results show "no party, no ethnic or religious grouping can dominate" the Iraqi government, Mr Straw said on a surprise visit. He is in Baghdad for talks with top politicians about the slow progress in forming a new coalition government. Talks have faltered over splits within and between Shias, Sunnis
and Kurds. Shia leaders say they have the right to control key posts after winning 130 of the 275 seats in parliament. But Sunni Arab leaders want to ensure they are represented at a senior level, and are seeking to break the control of Shia militias on the interior ministry. The US has warned that aid to Iraq will be cut if the new government includes politicians with a strong sectarian bias | | | |
The Iraqi prime minister dismissed the US warning.
Ibrahim Jaafari said he did not want a sectarian government, but would not accept interference in what was an "internal Iraqi affair".
"We do not need anybody to remind us, thank you."
'Vested interest'
Correspondents say Mr Straw's second visit to Baghdad in recent weeks illustrates UK and US concern at the difficulties faced in forming a government.
Following talks with President Jalal Talabani, Mr Straw told reporters Iraqis wanted a government that bound together different segments of society.
"International communities like us who played a role in liberating Iraq have a vested
interest in a democratic, stable Iraq," he said.
On Monday, US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said aid could not be used to build up security forces run by people with a sectarian agenda.
The US official added that it was time for Iraqis to form a government that was not dominated by Shia Muslims and Kurds.
In the latest violence, a spokesman for a Sunni Arab political group has been found dead with multiple gunshot wounds, three days after his disappearance.
Sunni Arab leaders accuse the Shia-led interior ministry of employing militias to oppress their civilians under the guise of fighting the insurgency.
Mainly Sunni insurgents have launched tens of thousands of attacks on US forces, their allies and targets associated with the new regime established since the US overthrow of Saddam Hussein nearly three years ago.
Abuse allegations
Mr Straw's trip comes amid tensions between the British and Iraqi authorities in the south of the country.
Two regional councils have
halted co-operation with the British army after a video showed apparent abuse of civilians by UK troops two years ago.
Mr Straw said the incident was under investigation and that there had been very few allegations of abuse overall.
Three soldiers have been questioned over the pictures and UK military police have interviewed four Iraqi youths.
Mr Straw's spokesman said there were no plans on this trip for the foreign secretary to visit Basra, where British troops are on patrol.
Iraq Government Extends Curfew As Death Toll Mounts
Thursday, 23 February 2006
23 February 2006 -- Iraqi state television has reported that the government has extended a general curfew until 4 p.m. tomorrow in Baghdad and three provinces after scores of people died today in more sectarian violence.
The outbreak of Sunni-Shi'ite violence follows yesterday’s bombing of a revered Shi'ite shrine in Samarra, the Al-Askari Mosque.
More than 100 people died today in violence that appeared connected to the bombing. Most of the dead were thought to be Sunnis, killed by Shi'ites angered by the shrine attack.
More than 100 people died today in violence that appeared connected to the bombing. Most of the dead were thought to be Sunnis, killed by Shi'ites angered by the shrine attack.
U.S.
President George W. Bush today denounced the bombing, calling it a political act intended to cause civil strife.
Earlier today, Iraq's main Sunni Muslim bloc pulled out of talks on forming a new government, blaming Shi'ites for the wave of sectarian violence.
Tariq al-Hashemi, a top Sunni politician, announced the withdrawal today in Baghdad.
Earlier today, Iraq's main Sunni Muslim bloc pulled out of talks on forming a new government, blaming Shi'ites for the wave of sectarian violence.
Tariq al-Hashemi, a top Sunni politician, announced the withdrawal today in Baghdad.
Also today, authorities said the bullet-riddled corpses of at least 47 Iraqis were recovered from a ditch near Baghdad. The motive for the attack was unclear. The Reuters news agency reported that the victims included both Sunnis and Shi'ites.
Iraq government warns of "endless civil war"
Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:08 AM ET
By Michael Georgy and Lin Noueihed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's defense minister warned on Saturday of a "civil war" that "will never end" and said he was ready to put tanks on the streets as sectarian violence flared despite a second day of curfew in Baghdad.
Extending a traffic ban in the capital to Monday after battles around Sunni mosques and a car bomb in a holy Shi'ite city, leaders
scrambled to break a round of reprisals sparked by a suspected al Qaeda bombing of a Shi'ite shrine on Wednesday.
The gravest crisis since the U.S. invasion in 2003 threatens Washington's hopes of withdrawing its 136,000 troops from Iraq.
"If there is a civil war in this country it will never end," Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi, a minority Sunni Muslim in the Shi'ite-led interim government, told a news conference.
"We are ready to fill the streets with armored vehicles."
Iraq's 200,000-plus, U.S.-trained security forces have few tanks but U.S. forces, which routinely patrol Baghdad with heavy armor, are also standing by, commanders said. The loyalties of the untried police and Iraqi army could be tested in any clash with militias from which many were recruited.
Dulaimi called for calm and said reports had exaggerated the death toll, which he put at 119 since the bloodless bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra at dawn on Wednesday. Baghdad police say over 200 have been killed in and around the city.
The
biggest political bloc from the once-dominant Sunni Muslim minority said it might end a boycott of U.S.-backed negotiations on forming a full-blown national unity government that Washington hopes can stifle sectarian strife.
But Iraq's most prominent Sunni cleric, blaming Shi'ite police for attacking his home, said live on pan-Arab television during the gunbattle: "This is civil war declared by one side."
An aide to Harith al-Dari said two young nieces of the head of the Muslim Clerics Association had been wounded by gunfire.
Rival Shi'ite leaders deny sending militias against Sunni targets; but shows of force strengthen them in negotiations.
Shi'ite fury exceeds any provoked by Sunni attacks that have killed thousands since U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime; senior figures fear some Shi'ites may stop heeding calls from their religious leaders for restraint.
Iraqi and U.S. officials blamed the bloodless but symbolic attack on Samarra's Golden Mosque on al Qaeda, saying it wants to wreck the project for democracy in Iraq; al Qaeda accused Shi'ites of carrying it out as an excuse for attacks on Sunnis.
Abroad, there has been concern that Iraqi sectarian violence could inflame the entire Middle East if it gets out of hand.
(Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald, Mussab Al- Khairalla and Nick Olivari in Baghdad, Sami al-Jumaili in Kerbala and Faris al-Mehdawi in Baquba)
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Iraq government warns of risk of "endless civil war"
Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:33 AM EST
By Michael Georgy and Lin Noueihed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's defense minister warned on Saturday of the risk of a "civil war" that "will never end" as sectarian violence flared again despite a second day of curfew in Baghdad.
Extending a traffic ban in the capital to Monday after battles around Sunni mosques and a car bomb in a holy Shi'ite city, leaders scrambled to break a round of reprisals sparked by a suspected al Qaeda bombing of a Shi'ite shrine on Wednesday.
Sunni and Shi'ite clerics met to seek a joint approach at Baghdad's holiest Sunni mosque, site of one clash overnight.
The gravest crisis since the U.S. invasion in 2003 threatens Washington's hopes of withdrawing its 136,000 troops from Iraq.
"If there is a civil war in this country it will never end," Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi, a
minority Sunni Muslim in the Shi'ite-led interim government, told a news conference.
"We are ready to fill the streets with armored vehicles."
Iraq's 232,000-strong, U.S.-trained security forces have few tanks but U.S. forces, which routinely patrol Baghdad with heavy armor, are also standing by, commanders said. The loyalties of the largely untried new police and Iraqi army could be tested in any clash with militias from which many were recruited.
The Pentagon said in a report on Friday no Iraqi units were able to fight on their own but about 40,000 troops were in battalions able to take the lead in
combat with support from U.S. forces, an increase of 50 percent in the past three months.
Dulaimi called for calm and said reports had exaggerated the death toll, which he put at 119 since the bloodless bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra at dawn on Wednesday. Baghdad police say over 200 have been killed in and around the city.
TALKS
The biggest political bloc from the once-dominant Sunni Muslim minority said it might end a boycott of U.S.-backed negotiations
on forming a full-blown national unity government.
But Iraq's most prominent Sunni cleric, blaming Shi'ite police for attacking his home, said live on pan-Arab television during the gunbattle: "This is civil war declared by one side."
Later, however, representatives of Harith al-Dari's Muslim Clerics Association met Shi'ite counterparts for talks.
Top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged tribal leaders from around the holy city of Najaf to "play their role in security," a
Sistani aide in Najaf said after a car bomb killed eight and wounded 31 in the nearby holy city of Kerbala.
Police said they found bodies of 14 police commandos near one Sunni mosque attacked overnight. Police said it was not immediately clear how or when their colleagues were killed.
Gunmen wearing the black clothing preferred by some Shi'ite militias attacked the mosques with rocket-propelled grenades, police said. Residents said local Sunnis appeared to fire both on the militiamen and on police commandos who intervened.
Near Baquba, police said gunmen killed 12 members of one family in what they said was a sectarian attack on Shi'ites. Relatives said some victims were Sunnis due to a mixed marriage.
Rockets and mortars fell on Shi'ite Sadr City in eastern Baghdad. One destroyed a house and killed two women and a man, said a spokesman Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Three security men were killed in separate gun and bomb attacks on the funeral cortege in western Baghdad of an Iraqi journalist killed as she reported in Samarra on Wednesday.
OFFER
The main Sunni political bloc, which raised hopes for stability by standing in a parliamentary election in December, pulled out of negotiations on a unity coalition with Shi'ites and Kurds after accusing Shi'ite leaders of fomenting violence.
But on Saturday, after Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari issued a statement promising state aid to repair dozens of damaged mosques and a possible special guard force for religious sites, the Iraq Accordance Front said it could rejoin the process:
"It will not hesitate to reconsider its position and return to the negotiating table ... if our legitimate demands are met."
The Front has demanded, among other things, a formal apology for the reprisals from the ruling Shi'ite Alliance.
Rival Shi'ite leaders deny sending militias against Sunni targets; but shows of force strengthen them in negotiations.
Abdul
Aziz al-Hakim, head of the powerful, pro-Iranian SCIRI party which also runs the armed Badr movement, met U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, said aides to both men after a week in which U.S. relations with Shi'ite leaders have been strained.
Shi'ite fury exceeds any provoked by Sunni attacks that have killed thousands since U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime; senior figures fear some Shi'ites may stop heeding calls from their religious leaders for restraint.
Iraqi and U.S. officials blamed the bloodless but symbolic attack on Samarra's Golden Mosque on al Qaeda, saying it wants to wreck the project for democracy in Iraq;
al Qaeda accused Shi'ites of carrying it out as an excuse for attacks on Sunnis.
Abroad, there has been concern that Iraqi sectarian violence could inflame the entire Middle East if it gets out of hand.
(Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald, Mussab Al- Khairalla and Nick Olivari in Baghdad, Sami al-Jumaili in Kerbala and Faris al-Mehdawi in Baquba)
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Iraqi Accord Front
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The Iraqi Accord Front is an Iraqi political party created on October 26, 2005.
It is the result of the combination of the General Council for the People of Iraq led by Adnan al-Dulaimi, the Iraqi Islamic Party led by Mohsen Abd al-Hamid and the Iraqi National Dialogue Council, a powerful bloc of Sunni parties headed by Khalaf al-Ulayyan.
The party is Islamist and Sunni, consisting of the Sunni groups that backed the 2005 constitution.
Its most important rivals for the Sunni vote are the Iraqi National Dialogue Front led by Saleh al-Mutlak, a secular Sunni party that opposed the constitution, and the multi-ethnic Iraqi National
List, which contains The Iraqis, the most successful Sunni party in the January election.
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