Reuters: New Iraqi Political Deal Won’t Work

From a distraught Reuters:

Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani (3rd L) and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (4th L) attend a meeting with other senior government leaders in Baghdad August 26, 2007. Iraq’s top Shi’ite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish political leaders announced on Sunday they had reached consensus on some key measures seen as vital to fostering national reconciliation.

Cautious optimism after Iraqi political deal

By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A new political accord between Iraq’s main Sunni Arab, Shi’ite and Kurdish leaders will not be enough to lure boycotting Sunni Arabs back into the government, a spokesman for the biggest Sunni Arab bloc said on Monday.

Five leading politicians announced the accord late on Sunday, agreeing on a mechanism for releasing detainees, a law on distributing oil revenue and measures to readmit former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party to public life.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker hailed the deal, which will give him at least some good news to deliver in two weeks when he and the top U.S. general in Iraq, David Petraeus, report back to Washington in a pivotal moment for U.S. policy…

SUPPORT QUESTIONED

Experts question whether the five leaders who reached the deal have enough support to pass laws in parliament.

On the Sunni Arab side, Hashemi leads just one of three parties in the Accordance Front. On the Shi’ite side, the leaders who signed the deal did not include followers of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who also quit the government this year.

“I don’t see how they can push these through parliament when they don’t have a majority in parliament,” said Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group think tank.

“It will be very difficult to get some of these benchmarks met by this new alliance, which is basically more narrow than the one before.”

A senior member of the Accordance Front, Hashemi’s bloc, said it would not return to the government.

“We are not boycotting political dialogue, but this does not mean that we are returning to the government,” said Saleem al-Jubouri, a leading Front member of parliament and spokesman…

The headline writer is asking to be fired. For the purpose of the article is clearly to squelch any possible optimism about this accord.

Fortunately another version of these events is given a more instructive headline:

Iraq Sunnis say deal won’t end boycott

By Wisam Mohammed Mon Aug 27

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A new political accord between Iraq’s main Sunni Arab, Shi’ite and Kurdish leaders will not be enough to lure boycotting Sunni Arabs back into the government, a spokesman for the biggest Sunni Arab bloc said on Monday…

After all the “experts,” such as Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group think tank, say it cannot possibly work.

As do the terrorists, of course.

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