[R-G] Shock and Awe Didn't Work, Let's Try Bi-partisan Partition

[CeJ]

Three online stories (largely a composite of news agency dreck) cited
below, but with my preface:

First, this is not so much a political act in opposition to the Bush
regime's occupation of Iraq as it is rather a two-party affirmation of
the US occupation of Iraq, setting the stage to make it a Democratic
regime fait accompli. It's like the Democrats are saying, we want to
take on Bush's occupation and we want to start doing it now. I guess
Biden is also hoping it will boost his floundering presidential run.

I would not be suprised if Gen. Clarke and Clinton Sec. of Defense
Cohen start making the rounds talking up 'soft partition' as THE
SOLUTION to all our Iraq troubles.

Second, the Biden plan has been in circulation for quite a while, and
draws its language of 'soft partition' (using 'concept' is too
generous here) from the zionist Saban Center at Brookings (which also
gave us pro-Iraq war rhetoric, so now it is working hard on making the
occupation work).

Third, Iraq already devolved and was partitioned. Saddam devolved
power in order to keep his faction of the Baathist party at the head
of the nation, before his demise at the hands of the US occupation.
That is how he clung to power as long as he had. Also, the US
partitioned Iraq in a rather hard way by making the Kurdish north
separate from the rest of Iraq, again, before the invasion and
occupation. And the US occupation developed this still further by
splitting its occupation, with the UK forces in charge of Basra and
the south. And a fundamentally federalist constitution was then forced
onto the occupied country. Much of this reflected the earlier no-fly
zones.

So in the clippings below, note the seeming contradiction in the US
Embassy in Iraq (I guess it is CIA Central Operations now) in
criticizing the Senate resolution while also calling for federalism in
Iraq. There is no real contradiction, though, since the tension is the
traditional one--who gets to make foreign policy when the US is 'at
war' (that is, who gets to manage the militarism). Also, they can't
much like Biden coming right out and making it so obvious that this is
an occupation and the Iraqis who collaborate are the US's puppets.

Finally, at least the mainstream press acknowledges that the Sunni
Ulema Council and the Sadrists reject the resolution. Not much
analysis but in the media. It can not be because the anti-federalist
Ulema and Sadrists agree with the US embassy or the hapless Maliki.
Rather, that is because they reject federalism, weak partition, strong
partition, an occupation-imposed constitution, and permanent
occupation under any puppet structure (be it centralized. They
represent the political expression of the Resistance to the
occupation, and they also represent the political expression of those
who can and will rule Iraq after the US has left. Unfortunately, that
is not even plan Z in the US occupation. Otherwise, they would never
have invaded Iraq and rhizomatically migrated Centcom to the ME in the
first place.

CJ


1. http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070930-035918-7498r

Iraq's Shiites and Sunnis reject US partition idea
AFP


>>The Senate's non-binding resolution, which is opposed by President
George W. Bush, would provide for decentralizing Iraq in a federal
system, as permitted by Iraq's constitution, to stop the country from
becoming a failed state.

Moqtada Al Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric who commands the largest
single bloc in parliament and boasts a powerful militia known as the
Mehdi Army, said the proposal demonstrated "flagrant interference in
Iraq's internal affairs.

"We reject this decision chapter and verse and demand the Iraqi
government reject it," he said in a statement issued by his office.

The leading Sunni authority in Iraq, the Ulema Council - also known as
the Committee of Muslim Scholars - joined the Shiite condemnation,
saying the idea "uses the pretext of avoiding violence to impose the
division of Iraq."

This division is "one of the main objectives of American occupation,"
the council said, calling on Iraqis to reject it.

The only place where the splitting of Iraq was popular was in the
Kurdish region in the north, which already enjoys a large degree of
autonomy and relative stability.>>

2. http://beta.malaysia.news.yahoo.com/ap/20071001/twl-iraq-38359fb.html

>>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.

The Kurds in three northern Iraqi provinces are running a virtually
independent country within Iraq while nominally maintaining relations
with Baghdad. They support a formal division, but both Sunni and
Shiite Muslims have denounced the 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.>>

3. http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=22439

Iraq's Shiites, Sunnis reject US partition idea


Iran, Syria reject US Senate plan to split Iraq while Kurds welcome
concept of federalism.


BAGHDAD - Shiite and Sunni figures in Iraq dismissed Saturday a US
Senate plan to split Iraq along ethnic and religious lines, while the
Kurds welcomed it as the "only viable solution" to the present chaos.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said upon his return from the United
States that the idea being floated there by a US senator and
presidential hopeful would "be a catastrophe not only in Iraq but also
on the region."

"It is Iraqis who decide and they are keen to maintain the unity of
their country," Maliki told state-run Al-Iraqiya television.

Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric who commands the largest single bloc
in parliament and boasts a powerful militia known as the Mahdi Army,
said the proposal demonstrated "flagrant interference in Iraq's
internal affairs."

"We reject this decision chapter and verse and demand the Iraqi
government reject it," he said in a statement issued by his office.

The leading Sunni authority in Iraq, the Ulema Council -- also known
as the Committee of Muslim Scholars -- joined the Shiite condemnation,
saying the idea "uses the pretext of avoiding violence to impose the
division of Iraq."

This division is "one of the main objectives of American occupation,"
the council said, calling on Iraqis to reject it.

The only place where the splitting of Iraq was popular was in the
Kurdish region in the north which already enjoys a large degree of
autonomy.

"The people and government of the Kurdistan region welcome the
adoption of the US Senate resolution calling for the rebuilding of the
Iraqi state on the basis of federalism," a statement from the regional
government said.

"A federal arrangement for the Iraqi state does not mean division, but
rather voluntary union. It is the only viable solution to the problems
of Iraq."

The plan, offered by Democratic presidential hopeful Joseph Biden as
an amendment to a defence policy bill, was approved Wednesday at the
US Senate in Washington by a vote of 75 to 23.

Syria's Assad backs Iraq 'unity'

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad brushed aside Saturday the US Senate
plan to split Iraq along ethnic and religious lines, instead pledging
support for Baghdad's "sovereignty" in talks with a top Iraqi
official.

Assad pledged "Syria's support for the political process underway in
Iraq and national reconciliation between all the Iraqi peoples," in
talks with Iraq's Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi, the official Sana
news agency reported.

He also reaffirmed "Syria's attachment to the security and
independence of Iraq and its support for the sovereignty and unity of
the country".

Iran condemns US Senate plan to split Iraq

Iran on Saturday condemned the US Senate plan to split Iraq along
ethnic and religious lines, saying it amounted to "blatant
interference" in its western neighbour's affairs.

"The US Senate's act is blatant interference in Iraqi internal affairs
and violates this country's national unity and territorial integrity,"
foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hoseini said in a statement.

"The recent move is among mistakes that Americans will have to
correct," the spokesman said.

Hosseini said "such measures are aimed at disrupting Iraq's unity and
integrity as well as increasing crisis in Iraq and the region."

He also charged that the initiative was aimed at "standing against the
efforts of the government of (Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri) al-Maliki to
create national unity.

"Any decision about Iraq should be made by its people and through
legally defined ways. It is the Iraqis' right to determine their
fate."