- BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- American
efforts to give Iraqi Sunni Muslims more involvement in running the country
in a bid to quell resistance in Sunni areas may just deepen resentment
towards the occupying powers, analysts say.
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- "The main trick of any colonial power in the world
is divide and rule. We know it: they are trying to divide us," said
Wamid Nazmy, a politics professor at Baghdad University.
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- "Now the Americans and the British are speaking
about Sunni grievances because there is resistance in the Sunni area, so
they want to bring them into the cabinet or the ruling council just to
satisfy them."
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- The US-led administration set up Iraq's Governing Council
in July as a first step towards a sovereign government after US-led forces
toppled Saddam Hussein in April. The Council contains a majority of Shi'ites,
Iraq's largest religious community which suffered decades of repression
under Saddam.
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- But a growing insurgency, which has claimed 185 American
lives since May 1, has been concentrated in the Sunni heartland of the
country and the coalition authorities have said the Council will now be
"reaching out" more to Sunni Arabs.
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- Political analyst Saad Jawad said history was repeating
itself. "When the British came to Iraq in the First World War they
made the mistake of giving power to the Sunni community," he said,
noting the British soon faced rebellion.
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- "The Americans are making the same mistake. The
problem is not who is Sunni or Shia, the problem is Iraqis would like to
see the best qualified people and don't mind who they are."
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- As well as leaning on Shias, Washington filled the interim
Iraqi authorities with exiles who opposed the Baath regime from abroad
and found favour with the United States.
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- "The majority of people in Iraq don't accept the
leadership of people coming from abroad, even if they are good people,"
Jawad said. "The people who lived here suffered the wars and sanctions,
unlike exiles who were all the time outside and 99 percent of whom are
seen as American stooges."
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- Apart from the perception among many Iraqis of ill-judged
US attempts to adjust the balance of religious groups in the Council, some
observers see suspected cronyism among its own members as potentially further
undermining the body's authority.
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- Najib al-Salhi, a former general in contact with Washington
before the war, says many Iraqis suspect bias in the selection of the Governing
Council and interim ministers.
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- "Now you find ministries filled with Shias or Kurds
or people of a certain political party," he said. "This is what
makes Iraqis disown the Americans and the Governing Council."
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- Washington and the Council have announced plans to set
up a sovereign government by June, chosen by an assembly formed by local
caucuses in March and April.
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- Salhi said he feared the process would be manipulated
by powerful figures in the new Iraqi authorities.
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- "It sounds good but it's the implementation that
matters," he said. "Elections will bring certain cliques, while
other people will be marginalised."
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- The Iraqi authorities are saying publicly that many faces
will remain and argue this guarantees stability.
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- Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said this week he had
assured Turkey that "the basic leadership of this Council will remain
in the political arena, whether there are elections or other structural
amendments to the political authority".
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- American officials have complained of a lack of leadership
figures who have emerged in Iraq, but media analyst Ali Hussein said there
were plenty of potential leaders.
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- "The Americans have to go to the people, not wait
for them to come to them like beggars," he said. "But the plan
seems to be to fill all positions with people who are loyal to them."
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- Jawad said this was a recipe for more violence. "I'm
sure that everybody, Sunni or Shia, will get fed up," he said. "Step
by step people will conclude it is the Americans' fault."
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