Key Meeting On Maliki’s Day Of National Reconciliation
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki called for national reconciliation during his speech at the United Nations yesterday saying “We look at national reconciliation as a life boat, a perpetual peace project and a safe harbor for the political process and the democratic experience.” That was echoed with an historic meeting by Iraqi VP Tariq al-Hashemi and top shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani today.
BAGHDAD- Iraq’s Sunni vice president held a rare meeting with the country’s top Shiite cleric Thursday to seek support for a 25-point blueprint for political reform, the latest effort by both Islamic sects to promote unity amid unrelenting violence.
Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi said Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani praised his initiative during their two-hour meeting in the holy city of Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad. The reclusive Shiite spiritual leader previously has met with Sunni clerics, but it was his first meeting with a senior government official from the disaffected minority Islamic sect, aides said.
“He generally blesses the initiative,” al-Hashemi said, saying he found al-Sistani politically “neutral” and eager to promote national unity.
Al-Sistani has played a key role in shaping the political future of Iraq following the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime and wields considerable influence over Shiite politicians and their followers.
Al-Hashemi’s blueprint appears to be, at least in part, an attempt to enhance his reputation as a national statesman and project an image of moderation for his Iraqi Islamic Party and the three-party alliance—the Iraq Accordance Front.
He said he had submitted it to the Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki and the Shiite bloc the United Iraqi Alliance.
“The time has come to sit around the table and have a candid dialogue about key and sensitive matters,” al-Hashemi said at a news conference Wednesday at which he unveiled the blueprint in Baghdad.
His proposals are the latest in a series of highly publicized documents designed to end Iraq’s sectarian violence and the Sunni-led insurgency. These include an agreement between senior Sunni and Shiite clerics reached in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, last year and a national reconciliation plan announced by al-Maliki on taking office in May 2006.
(AP)
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I liked his speech. The efforts at reconcilliation are a welcome change. Opportunity abounds in Iraq. We’re winning the bad guys are losing. This is a winnable war, despite the political obsticles in Iraq. Notice that even the Dhimirat candidates are non-committal about leaving Iraq anytime soon? And even the Hildabeast has to admit, that things are going well.
Seems to me that the Iraqis are at least trying to get things done. Can’t say the same for our useless Congress.
September 27th, 2007 at 1:59 pmVICTORYY
September 27th, 2007 at 2:51 pmIt’s gonna be so sweet watching this continue to happen. Watching victory get played out and repeated over and over and over and over down the years, with each step making libtards feel even that much more shitty about themselves. Ah GW, looks like you hung tough through the worst of it. So far.
September 27th, 2007 at 3:55 pm