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Iraq angrily rejects US sectarian warning
21.2.2006
By Michael Georgy
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BAGHDAD (Reuters)
- Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari angrily
dismissed on Tuesday U.S. warnings to shun
sectarianism in the country's new government, saying
Iraqis would not accept interference in their
affairs.
Speaking after talks with British Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw, who echoed the U.S. call for a
government of national unity in Iraq, the normally
calm and diplomatic Jaafari said Iraq knew its own
best interests.
"When someone asks us whether we want a sectarian
government the answer is 'no we do not want a
sectarian government' -- not because the U.S.
ambassador says so or issues a warning," he told a
news conference.
"...We do not need anybody to remind us, thank you."
U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said on
Monday the United States, which led the 2003
invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, was investing
billions of dollars in Iraq and did not want to see
that money go to support sectarian politics.
His comments were echoed less bluntly on Tuesday by
Straw, who said after a meeting with President Jalal
Talabani that Iraq's parliamentary elections in
December showed that no single group can dominate
Iraq's new political landscape.
"This is a crucial moment today for the people of
Iraq. We had the elections on December 15th. We've
now had the final accredited results. What they show
is that no party, no ethnic or religious grouping
can dominate government in Iraq," Straw said.
"This therefore gives further impetus to what Iraqis
tell us they want, which is a government of national
unity bringing together all the different elements
of Iraqi society."
While Arab Sunni participation in the polls raised
hopes that peaceful politics could defuse the Sunni
insurgency, voting patterns suggested ballots were
cast based on sect, not political and economic
programs offered by candidates.
RISING TENSIONS
Rising sectarian tension is increasingly evident on
streets, where bodies are often dumped with bullet
holes to the head.
Sunni accusations that Jaafari's Shi'ite-led
government has sanctioned death squads have
tarnished the image of postwar Iraq, which was meant
to shine as an example of democracy in a region of
dictatorships.
Straw reiterated that Britain was working to push
democracy forward in Iraq, where the Sunni
insurgency of bombings and shootings has killed
thousands of security forces and civilians.
"The international community, particularly those of
us who have played a part in liberating Iraq have an
interest in ... a prosperous, stable and democratic
Iraq," Straw said.
Hours before he spoke, Iraqi Displacement and
Migration Minister Suhaila Abd Jaafar survived a
roadside bomb attack on her convoy, police sources
and an official in her office said.
Other violence, small-scale by Iraqi standards,
included two policemen killed by a roadside bomb, an
attack on a judge that killed a civilian and the
discovery of the body of a bound man with shotgun
wounds to the head and chest.
Reuters
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