Growing Pains …
By Denise Best | Related entries in Blogging, The WorldOne more step forward has presumbly been made in the process of establishing a constitutional government in Iraq.
A majority of voters approved the constitution in the nationwide referendum held on Oct. 15, the officials said. But the vote was sharply divided along ethnic and sectarian lines. The biggest support came from Shiites and Kurds, who make up about 80 percent of the population, while Sunni Arabs largely rejected the document.
Looks like the makings for continuing civil unrest.
The last-minute approval of the constitution by one Sunni Arab group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, seems to have done little to win support among voters for the document. That approval came after American officials helped negotiate a compromise that would allow the constitution to be amended in the first four months of the new Parliament, to be elected in mid-December.
With that in mind, Sunni Arab leaders are now calling for participation in the elections. They say they fear that the constitution will lead to the break-up of Iraq, because it allows regions to separate from the central government into virtually independent entities. The Shiites and Kurds, who each control oil-rich areas in the south and north, pushed hard for the right to create autonomous regions.
Is there an inevitability to civil war for a fledgling nation?
History (our nation included) would seem to indicate that a nation oftentimes must be torn apart before proceeding to a mature establishment.
We’re seeing the infancy stage at this point for Iraq and all the trials and tribulations of “growing up,” lies ahead.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2005 and is filed under Blogging, The World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 25th, 2005 at 4:12 pm
Civil unrest is a nonsequitor for the Sunnis. If the Sunnis piss off the Shiite in the south and the Kurds in the north, Partition will happen and the Shiite and Kurds will have all the oil and the Sunnis will get NOTHING.
Personally I don’t see partion as a bad thing. It is only just that the Shiite and Kurds get the oil revenue and the Sunni (ex ruling population) get the shaft. Thats how you best punish rich people, you make them poor.