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Looks like a major shift in policy. The Sunnis are suddenly our pals. Excerpts; link below; my emphasis and comment.
"One month after Iraq's Dec. 15 election, a shift is afoot that will probably weaken Shiite political clout as the country's factions enter serious negotiations to form a new government.
Increasingly, the US is throwing owing its weight in Iraq behind Sunni Arabs, about 20 percent of the country, to ensure they are part of a new coalition government." --so much for a Democratically elected government--
"But Shiite leaders have responded defiantly, threatening unflinching stands that could push the country closer to full-scale civil war.
Most notably, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), among the most influential Shiite leaders, last week rejected any major changes to the Iraqi Constitution.
The right to amend the Constitution was a last-minute US-brokered clause instrumental to getting Sunni Arabs on board with the document."
""I think the realization has gradually sunk in that an insurgency situation like this is in fact essentially a political matter," says W. Patrick Long, the former head of Middle Eastern intelligence for the Defense Intelligence Agency.
"So the US government now, and [US Ambassador Zalmay] Khalilzad have finally decided that the only way to stop the fighting and stabilize the situation in Iraq is to make sure that the Sunnis have an acceptable level of power in the country, and that's what they're trying to do," he says.
The new US approach is evident in officials' shifting discourse about the insurgency."
More at the link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060117/ts_csm/ogov_1;_ylt=Ar7A5fPDG4SISM_58622FuVX6GMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
"One month after Iraq's Dec. 15 election, a shift is afoot that will probably weaken Shiite political clout as the country's factions enter serious negotiations to form a new government.
Increasingly, the US is throwing owing its weight in Iraq behind Sunni Arabs, about 20 percent of the country, to ensure they are part of a new coalition government." --so much for a Democratically elected government--
"But Shiite leaders have responded defiantly, threatening unflinching stands that could push the country closer to full-scale civil war.
Most notably, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), among the most influential Shiite leaders, last week rejected any major changes to the Iraqi Constitution.
The right to amend the Constitution was a last-minute US-brokered clause instrumental to getting Sunni Arabs on board with the document."
""I think the realization has gradually sunk in that an insurgency situation like this is in fact essentially a political matter," says W. Patrick Long, the former head of Middle Eastern intelligence for the Defense Intelligence Agency.
"So the US government now, and [US Ambassador Zalmay] Khalilzad have finally decided that the only way to stop the fighting and stabilize the situation in Iraq is to make sure that the Sunnis have an acceptable level of power in the country, and that's what they're trying to do," he says.
The new US approach is evident in officials' shifting discourse about the insurgency."
More at the link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060117/ts_csm/ogov_1;_ylt=Ar7A5fPDG4SISM_58622FuVX6GMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
