Biden and Hagel on Iraq elections... drawdown/U.N.

[Gloria]

http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2005-10-16T164453Z_01_KWA660266_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-CONGRESS.xml


Iraq's Sunnis must use political process: senator
Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:45 PM ET


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq's constitutional referendum should encourage opposition Sunni Arabs to work through the political process, which would help avoid a regional war, weaken the insurgency and speed the U.S. pullout, a leading U.S. senator said on Sunday.

With the U.S.-backed constitution apparently headed for approval after Saturday's vote, Sen. Joe Biden said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that parliamentary elections in December now are crucial to quelling Iraqi insurgents.

(SNIP)

"If the Sunnis don't buy into this constitution over the next two months by voting for Sunnis in the parliament and trying to get the constitution amended, we may find a regional war, not just a civil war," said Biden, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"If it succeeds, the political process, I predict you'll see a drawdown of American forces by this time next year."

Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska, said he also expected to see U.S. forces leaving Iraq next year.

MORE

[Gloria]

1. Hagel continues.....

Hagel said the constitutional referendum also provided an opportunity for calling a regional security conference under U.N. sponsorship to discuss Iraq.

"The United States takes a secondary position," he said. "Everyone has a role in this because it is a regional problem. Our influence is waning, will continue to wane, so I think it's important to put this into perspective of a regional context."

MORE

[LynnTheDem]

2. "U.S.-backed constitution" Good, glad they're admitting to this shit...

MOST IRAQIS HAVE NOT EVEN SEEN THE CONSTITUTION THEY'RE TO VOTE ON.

Gee what "PROGRESS"!

It's expected to pass, because the VIOLENCE will keep Iraqis away from the voting booths.

Gee what "PROGRESS"!

Iraqis vote on 'invisible' constitution

Insurgency hampers distribution of crucial document as millions prepare to go to the polls this week...
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article318225.ece

#2. 2000 Americans dead...for an IRANIAN-STYLE ISLAMIC STATE of repressed women in IRAQ;

"Unmaking Iraq, the Constitutional Process Gone Awry,"

The Iraqi constitution as written will push that country toward full-scale civil war, a report from a nonprofit organization warns. Melissa Block talks with Robert Malley, director of the International Crisis Group's Middle East program.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=3703

"It may well be more of a prelude to civil war than a step forward," Anthony H. Cordesman said in an analysis for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Bush administration endorsed Iraq's proposed new constitution yesterday, but analysts warned that some provisions can be interpreted to undermine everything from the distribution of political power to a secular judiciary, from women's rights to fair distribution of oil revenue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/24/AR2005082402217_pf.html

There are, however, significant doubts about the religious nature of the new constitution...

"It is written by Islamists for Islamists"

Zainab and her friend Zahra, 37, are both deeply apprehensive about the effect the constitution will have on women's rights. Since "liberation" by US-led forces they have seen the growth in the power of Muslim clerics and the diminishing power of choice.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article318609.ece

The Iraqi constitution's downside for women
http://www.juancole.com/2005/09/iraqi-constitutions-downside-for-women.html

Iraqi Women May Lose Basic Rights Under New Constitution
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0723-06.htm

Iraq's Draft Constitution Is Said to Deepen Divide...will likely trigger civil war...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092601442.html

UN issues warning over Iraq constitution

There are fears that Iraq's draft Constitution, due to go a referendum next week, could trigger the break up of the country and even spark a bloody civil war.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2005/s1473209.htm

Americans Die for Sharia (ISLAMIC STATE) in Iraq

It's so Abdul the Iraqi can have six wives. It's so women can be forced to wear the abaya, alcohol can be banned, and sharia law – Muslim religious beliefs as interpreted by a council of mullahs and "grand ayatollahs" – can become the law of the land. As one of the Shi'ite clerics' representatives put it the other day:

"We don't want to see equality between men and women because according to Islamic law, men should have double of women. This is written in the Quran and according to God."
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=4774

#3. Iraq "constitution"...A Lose-Lose Referendum;

Five days before Saturday's referendum on Iraq's proposed constitution, the U.S. foreign policy elite appears both anxious and gloomy, increasingly worried that win or lose, the process will bring Iraq one step closer to civil war and, with it, the possible destabilisation of the wider region.

"We've looked for the constitution to be a national pact, and the perception now is that it's not," Gen. George Casey, the commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, told lawmakers here last week. "Now this constitution has come out, and it didn't come out as a national compact that we thought it was going to be."

Makiya believes the combination of violence and the constitution threatens "the very idea and very possibility of an Iraq".

Barbara Bodine, a veteran diplomat and Middle East expert currently at Harvard University, whose appointment to a senior CPA post after the invasion was blocked by neo-conservatives in the Pentagon, echoed that view.

"The United States has 'Lebanonised' Iraq. It is ironic that a structure that worked so poorly for Lebanon is now the template for Iraq."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1012-03.htm

#4. LUCKY Iraqi women! STONING FOR ADULTERY coming soon!

La Repubblica: "Putting it in a nutshell, there will be no more stoning of adulterous women, is that it?"

Al-Yasari, cleric al Sistani's spokesman:
"Well, it depends. In the case of married women whom eye witnesses can accuse of betraying their husbands, the punishment can only be that. But in any event there will be very few exemplary sentences, and they will always be issued after a fair trial."

Welcome to "liberated" Iraq – that’s what our troops are dying for, and that’s what you’re paying for. It’s medievalism with a "democratic" face.

http://www.iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/article/39110

STONING WOMEN! CIVIL WAR! VOTE for a "constitution" you've never read! That's "US-BACKED!

[Oversea Visitor]

3. All

they are trying to do it to escape the fact that the Iraq war is illegal. This spin is all for the people of US and Britian.
Cause they are the only one that can frog match the whole gang to Hague.

Spin Spin that all this is about.

[LynnTheDem]

4. Of course...but I'm so happy they admit the IRANIAN STATE OF IRAQ

is "US-BACKED."

Coz when the experts are proven correct, I am going to make damn sure that "US-BACKED" gets blasted all over the place. ;)

[Oversea Visitor]

6. Time will

show the stupidity of the stay the course strategy.
US and Britian will lose this war.

Saddest part is the unneccessary killing and lives destroy.
A thousands mistakes wont make this right just make it worse.

The only reason why there is no exit strategy is because pulling out will means a full investigation of the crime. They just buying time cause the longer US and UK stay the bills get bigger and the war crime list get longer.

bush blair WAR CRIMINALS well time will record all this. What a disaster.

[Gloria]

5. Suddenly, it's a "regional problem" and our influence is "waning"

says Hagel...Then why is Rice gunning for Iran and Syria, next stops on the "democratization" tour....

And, now, he's talking U.N.?????

You know, Clark believes in diplomacy and involving Iraq's neighbors in figuring out Iraq, but not the sort of crap dished out by Hagel....Clark says point blank Bush isn't interested in talking with anybody.....so Hagel suggests dumping the mess on the U.N. and letting Chimpy off the hook after he lied his way into this??

[punpirate]

7. Umm, if that's the case, then...

... why did Article 16 disappear:

Article (16):

1. It is forbidden for Iraq to be used as a base or corridor for foreign troops.
2. It is forbidden to have foreign military bases in Iraq.
3. The National Assembly can, when necessary, and with a majority of two thirds of its members, allow what is mentioned in 1 and 2 of this article.

This one is amusing because in the first two parts of the article, foreign troops are forbidden and then in the third, they’re kind of allowed… well sometimes- when the puppets deem it necessary (to keep them in power). What is worrisome about this article, on seeing the final version of the draft constitution, is its mysterious disappearance- in spite of the fact that it leaves a lot of leeway for American bases in Iraq. Now, in the final version of the constitution, there is nothing about not having foreign troops in the country or foreign bases, at the very least. The ‘now you see it’/ ‘now you don’t’ magical effect of this article, especially, reinforces the feeling that this constitution is an ‘occupation constitution’.

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_riverbendblog_archive.html

Sounds like the "Chuckie Cheese and Joe" show to me.... These twits invited civil war rather than diminished its likelihood.