Iraq's largest Sunni party sets conditions for joining new bloc

Above: The major players -- Nuri al-Maliki (Prime Minister, Shiite), Tariq al-Hashemi (one of two Vice Presidents, Sunni), Moqtada al-Sadr ('fiery' anti-American cleric, Shiite), Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim (head of the largest Shiite coalition), Jalal Talabani (President of Iraq, Kurd, Qadiri Sufi sect of Sunnism), and Massoud Barzani (President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Naqshbandi Sufi sect of Sunnisim). The Sunni bloc just returned to parliament this week after Mahmud Mashhadani was reinstated as speaker. Sadr's parliamentary bloc also returned recently to the legislature following a protest of the most recent bombing of the al-Askari shrine in Samarra. The U.S. military has said that Sadr is back in Iran, which Sadr's aides are denying.

The moderate Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party balked Sunday at joining a new Shiite-Kurdish alliance, saying it could not join forces again with the same groups that have marginalized it and it believes are now plotting its destruction.

The Iraqi Islamic Party, the country's largest Sunni Arab political group, is a partner in the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that has been in office since May last year. It's being courted by four large political parties — two Shiite and two Kurdish — to form a new alliance that would exclude Shiite and Sunni militants. Independent Shiite lawmakers are set to join.

The harsh language used in the statement was most likely designed to extract more political concessions from the Shiites and Kurdish politicians in return for the Sunni group's participation in the alliance. A new political alliance without a key Sunni player like the Islamic Party would diminish its legitimacy and stoke the four-year-old Sunni insurgency.

The proposed grouping — dubbed "the alliance of the moderates" — is hoped to be a catalyst in achieving national reconciliation between Iraq's rival Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish groups, a goal that the United States has long been pressing al-Maliki's struggling government to do.

"The position of the Iraqi Islamic Party not to join new alliances remains in force to this day," said a statement issued by the Islamic party, led by Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

Related Link:
Sunni bloc returns to parliament after al-Mashhadani reinstated as speaker

Related Link:
Sadrists end boycott of parliament

Related Link:
Hakim says he backs Maliki

Related Link:
Source: Maliki to announce new majority coalition backed by Talabani, Barzani and Hakim

Related Link:
Military 'Sources': Sadr back in Iran

Related Link:
Sadr aide says Maliki comments give Americans a 'green light' to kill Sadrists, warn 'next few days will witness Maliki's end'

Related Link:
Report: Maliki to face no-confidence vote on July 15

Related Link:
Reports: Maliki calls for new political alliance; Says Sadr movement infiltrated by 'Saddamists, Baathists and gangs'; Demands Mahdi army disarm

Related Link:
Reports: Hashemi says Sunnis 'will let our actions do the talking for us' as boycott escalates

Related Link:
Parliament ousts Speaker Mashadani

Related Link:
Report: New U.S. strategy seeks to purge Iraqi government while keeping troop levels high

Related Link:
Report: Sadr reaching out to Sunnis, purging extremists, distancing from Maliki

Related Link:
Sources: Maliki fears U.S. will torpedo government over oil money