This is not good.
Iraq’s main Sunni Arab political bloc said on Wednesday it had suspended talks to rejoin the Shi’ite-led government after a disagreement with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki over a cabinet post.
Persuading the bloc to rejoin has been a main aim of U.S. policy in Iraq and is widely seen as a vital step in reconciling the country’s factions after years of conflict. Sunni Arabs have little voice in a cabinet dominated by Shi’ites and Kurds.
The breakdown in talks could undermine Washington’s efforts to prod Sunni Arab states to offer more support to Iraq’s government at a conference in Sweden this week as a way of countering Shi’ite Iran’s growing influence in Iraq.
"We have suspended negotiations with the government and pulled out our candidates," said Salim al-Jibouri, spokesman for the Accordance Front. He said the decision was taken after Maliki objected to a candidate for a cabinet position.
The Accordance Front pulled out of Maliki’s national unity government in August, demanding the release of mainly Sunni Arab detainees in Iraq’s jails and calling for a greater say in security matters.
Jibouri said the Accordance Front drew up a list of candidates for six cabinet posts to hand to the government but Maliki rejected the nomination for the Planning Ministry. (Via Reuters)
While the United States is making good gains militarily in Iraq, the political end of it is, quite frankly, going lousy. As it says above the new Iraq Government cannot agree on who to have in what office. Of course the Neo-Conservatives will gloss over this and say, "Oh, This does not really matter, what matter is, that we’re winning the war!" The problem with the whole idiotic mentality is, there are two fronts to this occupation of Iraq. Defeat the "Terrorists" and establish a new Government in Iraq. The first part is working well, so far, the second one, is not working well at all, as this article shows.
But as Grampy "Bedtime story" McSame says, "We will never surrender in Iraq!"
You can’t surrender a land that was never yours in the first place, Grandpa. 