WSJ: Iraq's Enemies, by Dan Senor

Wall Street Journal ^ | May 13, 2005 | DAN SENOR

[OESY]

The first democratically elected Iraqi government was not even fully born when already its obituaries were being written. The front page of the New York Times last week reported of a "striking display of divisions," of "polarizing negotiations" and the "serious embarrassment" that the difficulties in finding suitable Sunni Arab cabinet ministers was causing.

The implication of such reports is that without "credible" Sunnis in the cabinet, the government's legitimacy will be impaired, its efforts to defeat the current terrorist onslaught will be hobbled, or both. Before we get too breathless, some perspective is in order.

First, Sunni Arabs now represent roughly 20% in the new government, reflecting its approximate 20% in the total population. This despite the fact that Sunnis did not even turn out for the election. And a Sunni was given one of three coveted seats of the presidency and one of four deputy prime ministerial posts. The Shiites and Kurds went to great lengths in this important demonstration of political inclusion. In the days leading up to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's announcement of his cabinet, he spent tens of hours in discussions with a new Sunni group -- the National Front for Dialogue (NFD) -- which included Sunni clerics with channels to the insurgency, leaders of the Association of Muslim Scholars (which had called for a Sunni boycott of the elections), and other Sunni leaders deemed to have "credibility" with the insurgents....

The notion that the cabinet should have "credibility" with those behind the terrorism is based on a strange idea: that the insurgency exists because Sunnis were disenfranchised....

What matters most is that the Sunni population, not the insurgents, see that democracy includes them, and will increasingly represent them the more they increase their participation in the system.

[OESY]

Mr. Senor was chief spokesman and senior adviser for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad from April 2003 through June 2004.

[Stultis]

The notion that the cabinet should have "credibility" with those behind the terrorism is based on a strange idea: that the insurgency exists because Sunnis were disenfranchised....

Radical is still Chic (or should that be Sheik?) at the NY Slimes.

[okie01]

The New York Times is an enemy of freedom.

With CBS and the Democrat party, they constitute yet another Axis of Evil.