Reconciliation In Iraq
RECONCILIATION IN IRAQ....Joshua Partlow reports that Iraqi leaders have given up on even the possibility of political reconciliation:
Iraqi leaders argue that sectarian animosity is entrenched in the structure of their government. Instead of reconciliation, they now stress alternative and perhaps more attainable goals: streamlining the government bureaucracy, placing experienced technocrats in positions of authority and improving the dismal record of providing basic services.If reconciliation depends on the emergence of efficient, fair government in Iraq, that's pretty much all she wrote. It's time to pack up and go home."I don't think there is something called reconciliation, and there will be no reconciliation as such," said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd. "To me, it is a very inaccurate term. This is a struggle about power."
Humam Hamoudi, a prominent Shiite cleric and parliament member, said any future reconciliation would emerge naturally from an efficient, fair government, not through short-term political engineering among Sunnis and Shiites.
For more in a related vein, check out Dexter Filkins' profile of Kanan Makiya in the New York Times Magazine this weekend.