U.S. Embassy Joins Iraqis In Denouncing Dem Plan To Carve Up Iraq
BAGHDAD (AP) -The U.S. Embassy joined a broad swath of Iraqi politicians—both Shiite and Sunni—in denouncing a nonbinding U.S. Senate resolution seen here as a recipe for splitting the country along sectarian and ethnic lines.
The Senate resolution, adopted last week, proposed reshaping Iraq according to three sectarian or ethnic territories Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, a Democrat presidential candidate, was the prime sponsor.
In a highly unusual statement, the U.S. Embassy said resolution would seriously hamper Iraq’s future stability.
“Our goal in Iraq remains the same: a united, democratic, federal Iraq that can govern, defend, and sustain itself,” the unsigned statement said.
“Iraq’s leaders must and will take the lead in determining how to achieve these national aspirations. … attempts to partition or divide Iraq by intimidation, force or other means into three separate states would produce extraordinary suffering and bloodshed,” it said.
The statement came just hours after representatives of Iraq’s major political parties denounced the Senate proposal.
At a news conference earlier in the day, at least nine Iraqi political parties and party blocs—both Shiite and Sunni—said the Senate resolution would diminish Iraq’s sovereignty and said they would try to pass a law to ban any division of the country.
“This proposal was based on the incorrect reading and unrealistic estimations of Iraq’s past, present and future,” according to a statement read at a news conference by Izzat al-Shahbandar, a representative of the secular Iraqi National List.
On Friday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told The Associated Press that “dividing Iraq is a problem, and a decision like that would be a catastrophe.”
Iraq’s constitution lays down a federal system, allowing Shiites in the south, Kurds in the north and Sunnis in the center and west of the country to set up regions with considerable autonomous powers.
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The Democrat congress is an national disgrace. How do such uneducated, poorly informed idiots rise to the top levels of government?
September 30th, 2007 at 7:23 pmAffirmative action.
October 1st, 2007 at 11:09 am