Shiites and Sunnis split over Hussein death sentence / Shiite-American split could benefit Sunni insurgents
"Shiites praised Mr. Maliki for taking a tough stand against Mr. Hussein, but said they feared what might come next. Sunnis were angry, they said, and attacks seemed imminent.
'They had good lives before,' said Ali Rashid, a police officer leaning against his truck with other officers and drinking a soft drink in Karada, a middle-class neighborhood in central Baghdad. 'He treated them well. They’ll take their revenge.'
. . . Iraqis are dying at a tremendous rate these days, Sunnis noted. One pointed out that Mr. Hussein was convicted for 148 deaths -- a number that is not all that far from the daily death toll in today’s Iraq, which hovers around 100.
'It is the right of Iraqis to ask whether the new regime gives them a pattern better than the old one,' said a statement from the largest Sunni political party. 'The crimes that were committed by the former regime are not committed today?' " [1]
"The differences between the new Shiite rulers and the Americans are real and growing. And the paradox of their animosity is that the primary beneficiary of the rift is likely to be their common enemy, the Sunni insurgents. Their aim has been to recapture the power the Sunnis lost with Mr. Hussein’s overthrow — and to repeat the experience of the 1920s, when Shiites squandered their last opportunity to wrest power and handed the Sunnis an opening to another 80 years of domination.
. . . The failure of American troops to stop these bombings [of Shiites by the Sunnis] is a source of anger among Shiites, who have woven conspiracy theories that depict the Americans as silent partners for the Sunnis. And the rancor finds a favorite target in Mr. Khalilzad, who has become a figure of contempt among some senior Shiites in the government for his efforts to draw the Sunnis into the circle of power in Baghdad. It has become common among Shiite officials to say that the envoy harbors an unease toward Shiites engendered by growing up in a Sunni family in Afghanistan that distrusted Hazaras, Shiite descendants of Genghis Khan." [2]
sources
[1] The New York Times. In Iraq, Shiite Joy and a Boost for Prime Minister. November 6, 2006.
[2] The New York Times. For U.S. and Top Iraqi, Animosity Is Mutual. November 4, 2006.
posted: wednesday, november 8, 2006, 8:52 PM ET
'They had good lives before,' said Ali Rashid, a police officer leaning against his truck with other officers and drinking a soft drink in Karada, a middle-class neighborhood in central Baghdad. 'He treated them well. They’ll take their revenge.'
. . . Iraqis are dying at a tremendous rate these days, Sunnis noted. One pointed out that Mr. Hussein was convicted for 148 deaths -- a number that is not all that far from the daily death toll in today’s Iraq, which hovers around 100.
'It is the right of Iraqis to ask whether the new regime gives them a pattern better than the old one,' said a statement from the largest Sunni political party. 'The crimes that were committed by the former regime are not committed today?' " [1]
"The differences between the new Shiite rulers and the Americans are real and growing. And the paradox of their animosity is that the primary beneficiary of the rift is likely to be their common enemy, the Sunni insurgents. Their aim has been to recapture the power the Sunnis lost with Mr. Hussein’s overthrow — and to repeat the experience of the 1920s, when Shiites squandered their last opportunity to wrest power and handed the Sunnis an opening to another 80 years of domination.
. . . The failure of American troops to stop these bombings [of Shiites by the Sunnis] is a source of anger among Shiites, who have woven conspiracy theories that depict the Americans as silent partners for the Sunnis. And the rancor finds a favorite target in Mr. Khalilzad, who has become a figure of contempt among some senior Shiites in the government for his efforts to draw the Sunnis into the circle of power in Baghdad. It has become common among Shiite officials to say that the envoy harbors an unease toward Shiites engendered by growing up in a Sunni family in Afghanistan that distrusted Hazaras, Shiite descendants of Genghis Khan." [2]
sources
[1] The New York Times. In Iraq, Shiite Joy and a Boost for Prime Minister. November 6, 2006.
[2] The New York Times. For U.S. and Top Iraqi, Animosity Is Mutual. November 4, 2006.
posted: wednesday, november 8, 2006, 8:52 PM ET
posted by eric at 8:34 PM
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