Author: mopress

Instead of attempting to live out its unrealistic democratic dream, the administration must begin planning a full withdrawal of US forces alongside turning sovereignty over to Iraq.–former Reagan aide Doug Bandow, reprinted at the Cato Institute.

So far, the emergent leader of Shi’a Iraq is Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who will resist secularization in Iraq while favoring “curbs on women’s rights, alcohol consumption and Western-style entertainment,” writes Kenneth Katzman. But there are other moderate forces at play.

The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) may be Iraq’s most established Shi’a group, with a 10,000 member militia, the Badr Corps, but Katzman says the group has been weakened by an August 2003 assassination of its leader, Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer al-Hakim, and by “suspicions” that the organization is Iranian inspired.

Al-Daawa is older and more wary of Iranian influence. It’s leader, Ibrahim Jaafari, is already a member of the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC).

Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, “a former Al-Daawa activist turned human rights activist”, is also on the IGC .

Katzman’s warns that further US aggression against Moqtada al-Sadr might collapse the middle ground.

Mubarak and Chirac, speaking together from Paris, say that Middle East Peace will not be achieved unilaterally. The Road Map involves a “Quartet” of players: UN, US, EU, and Russia.

Echoing what Anan said last week, Reuters analysts say Bush’s statement on the permanence of West Bank settlements also complicates peace in Iraq.