The Common Ills: Ignoring Sunnis grievances

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Ignoring Sunnis grievances

Yesterday, Holly Williams (CBS News -- link is text and video) reported on the Bard Brigade -- Shi'ite thugs fighting in Iraq -- fighting the Islamic State and fighting any Sunni civilians they can get near. Williams characterized them as possibly "effective" and then went on to note last week's massacre of Sunnis (over 70) carried out by Shi'ite militia members (according to survivors).

That renders them ineffective.

There is no chance that they "may be effective."

They could kill X number of IS members a day, they would still not be effective.

That's because their targeting of Sunnis is exactly why the Islamic State got a foothold in Iraq and continues to thrive there.

As long as the Iraqi government continues to use these thugs, the Islamic State continues.

Alice Fordham (NPR's Morning Edition) reports today on this reality and notes, "[Sheikh Ahmed] Dabash's views are typical of a broad spectrum of Sunnis in Iraq Islamists, tribes, one-time supporters of Saddam Hussein. They feel victimized by Iraq's Shi'ite-led government and many fight against the Shi'ite-dominant army either joining ISIS or aligning with them -- even if they find the group extreme."

Fordham notes how the US feels the (still not formed) Iraqi national guard is the solution but Sunni leaders feel differently.

Ned Parker and Angus MacSwan (Reuters) report, "Iraq's cabinet on Tuesday approved a draft law creating a national guard, which Sunni political figures have described as a necessary step to achieving national reconciliation." "Draft law" is a bill. Parliament passes laws. So what happened is the Cabinet voted to pass a bill onto Parliament -- two in fact.

One is the national guard measure. The other is to put an end to the US-imposed de-Ba'athification. Sunnis don't feel the measure passed by the Cabinet was enough.

And they're probably right for many reasons, not the least of which is that the Justice and Accountability Commission which was supposed to have been disbanded following the 2006 elections has been morphing into a Parliamentary committee and doing so publicly and with little attention from the western press. (They held a press conference last week. Which US outlet reported on it or even noted it? None.)

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