Thursday, June 14, 2007

Samarra Fallout
Surge not Working

The Sadr Bloc in parliament [Sawt al- Iraq in Arabic] is threatening to suspend their participation in legislation in protest against the failure to rebuild and protect the Shiite Askariya shrine in Samarra. Often the Iraqi parliament, many of whose members live abroad, cannot get a quorum without the Sadrists (32 seats), who are more likely to be in Baghdad for votes. The Sadrists are blaming “the hidden hand of the Occupation” for the bombing (i.e. it is Bush’s fault.) If they really do suspend participation in parliament, it would probably mean that no benchmark legislation will be passed any time soon– not the petroleum law, not revision of the laws on de-Baathification, not constitutional amendments. Nada. Zilch.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani called for “self-discipline” and “refusal to target innocents in reprisal” for the blowing up of the shrine’s minarets on Wednesday, according to the same report.

There appear to have been Sunni-Shiite clashes at mosques in the southern port city of Basra after Wednesday morning’s bombing of the Askariya Shrine in Samarra. Some Sunni mosques were attacked elsewhere but a curfew in the northern cities probably forestalled some of that sort of retaliatory violence.

There was also a big labor demonstration in Basra on Wednesday by former workers at defunct Iraqi state-owned factories (petrochemicals, steel, etc.) who want the Iraqi government to revive these industries [in Arabic via Sawt al-Iraq]. The Bush administration shut down the state-owned factories as part of its plan to destroy Arab socialism, and appears to have believed that the magic hand of the market would miraculously start back up Iraqi industries. The bankruptcy of American laissez faire as a development tool is pretty obvious in the economic catastrophe that Bush visited on Iraq. This big labor demonstration will not be reported in the American press, which generally is pitched to be about and for people who make at least $80,000 a year.

To read full article with links visit JuanCole.com