Posted on 09/27/2004 7:05:12 AM PDT by BigDoom
09.27.2004 Monday
Three Shiite Provinces Apply for Autonomy in Iraq
Three Shiite provinces under the control of British forces in southern Iraq followed the example of the Kurdish region in the north and applied to the Bagdat (Baghdad) administration in order to be recognized as an "autonomous territory".
The local administrators of Basra, Amara, and Nasiriye agreed that they wanted to unify and be granted autonomy. Basra Governor, Hasan Rasid reported that they sent their demands to interim Iraq Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. This development, confirmed also by the speaker of the parliament in Amara province, increases the disintegration anxieties of Iraq.
The State Administration Law approved by the Iraq Interim Government allows for the formation of autonomous regions by combining at least three provinces. However, Kerkuk (Kirkuk), due to a statute protecting its mixed ethnic makeup, and Baghdad, due to it being the capital, are not able to be included in any of the autonomous territories.
Suleymaniye, Erbil and Duhok provinces in northern Iraq compose the Kurdish Autonomous Territory. The Kurdish territory, having limited sources of income, reportedly intends to conquer Kirkuk in order to obtain its oil wealth.
Basra province, like Kirkuk, sits atop vast oil reserves of Iraq. Three million people live in the territory that is also home to Iraq's only seaport. Iraq Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP) leader Mesut Barzani's newspaper, Taakhi, endorsed the Shiites' initiative and called it a "righteous decision".
The developments are especially worrying to Iraqi Turkmen, who feel that the disintegration of Iraq has begun. The Iraq Interim Government will make the final decision on the matter in the upcoming days.
The provinces resisting against the coalition forces in Iraq will become isolated provided that the region controlled by the Shiites in southern Iraq obtains autonomy.
Ruh roh. Lead to civil war?
I smell Iran................
What is zaman.com ? I think we're already at war with Iran and Syria, just nobody wants to play on their home turf so Iraq is the battleground.
If three Shi'a provinces secede, they go in the Iranian column. I agree with you, this cannot be allowed to happen.
The oil wealth is the birthright of every Iraqi
Cool. Iraq should be partitioned.
"Cannot be allowed?" So much for the claim that this is a war for liberty, self-determination, and democracy.
In the long run, divide and conquer is the best strategy. "Iraq" is a figment of some bizarre, early 1900's, British imagination.
Maintaining membership in some conferacy of iraq is not a bad idea insofar as it lessons concerns of our Turkish ally.
I have no problem with it. The Kurds have done the same thing in the North. Iraq should be a federal republic to recognize and protect the rights of the various factions. If they are not included that way into the new Iraq, we will have another Yugoslavia, which broke apart painfully into several countries.
Iraq was invented in 1920 by Winston Churchill.
I've no problem with it right now, too. But in the end it's about an islamic Republic in the south, under iranien control and with sharia law. So, I will have a real big problem in the near future. Because that will never happen as long as we are in Iraq.
But in the end it's about an islamic Republic in the south, under iranien control and with sharia law.
I serioiusly doubt that will be the case. Iraq remains a secular society regardless of the area of the country. Iranians are not arabs and I don't think they will have much influence in Iraq. The memories of the Iran-Iraq war remain.
Ohh!!! (Slaps forehead.) I see it all so clearly now. Our mideast policy has actually been secretly under the control of an anonymous FReeper, who has now outed himself so that we can for the first time clearly see what our national leaders' real motivations have been all along!
Thank you for finally enlightening me.
< / sarcasm>
Who made that claim?
Sorry, couldn't resist.
And your view is....?
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