Posted on 12/10/2005 8:14:03 PM PST by neverdem
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Sunni Arab clerics urged their followers Friday to vote in next week's national elections — a major shift that the U.S. hopes will lure the community away from the insurgency.
In the last major weekly service before the voting, Sunni preacher Ali al-Zandi told worshippers at Umm al-Qura mosque that the Dec. 15 vote would be "a decisive battle that will determine our future."
"If you give your vote to the wrong people, then the [U.S.] occupation will continue and the country would be lost," he said, adding that the failure to participate would "pave the way for the evil people to take over."
Sunni leaders have offered similar advice elsewhere in Iraq, in contrast to the lead-up to last January's nationwide balloting, when the Sunni clerical leadership had urged the community to boycott the vote. The boycott enabled the Shiites and Kurds to seize most of the 275 parliament seats, marginalizing the Sunni Arabs and worsening sectarian tensions. Sunni Arabs form the backbone of the insurgency.
The Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni clerical group with links to some Sunni insurgents, stopped short of urging people to vote, saying it was up to individual Sunnis to decide whether to participate in the election.
Still, that represented a big shift for the Sunnis, who dominated political life under Saddam Hussein but now feel threatened by Shiite domination. This time, many Sunni Arabs are expected to vote, despite warnings from extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq, the terror group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian.
"It was a political mistake to boycott the previous elections because you cannot change any process, negatively or positively, without participating," Hameed al-Azami, 39, said in the barber shop he operates in Baghdad's heavily Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah.
"We used to say that we should not take part in the elections until the occupiers leave," he said, referring to U.S. and other coalition troops. "What if the occupiers stayed here for 10 years? Will I lose my political right for 10 years?"
Sunni leaders hope a big turnout will give them enough political clout to push through changes in the new constitution, including provisions for a federal state, and to pressure the U.S. to accept a timetable for the departure of foreign forces.
Sunni candidates say they also want improvements in the security situation, which they blame not only on Sunni insurgents but also on heavy-handed tactics of the Shiite-dominated security forces.
Changes in the election law all but guarantee that Sunni parties will win more than the 17 seats they hold in the current 275-seat parliament. In a country where religion and ethnicity define political loyalties, a big Sunni Arab turnout would maximize their strength.
The change in Sunni attitudes toward the election is clearly visible in the narrow streets of Azamiyah. In January, no campaign posters could be seen. If anyone dared put one up on a wall, it was soon defaced or removed. Few of Azamiyah's 50,000 eligible voters went to the polls.
This time, however, Azamiyah's streets and squares are festooned with campaign posters and banners of Sunni tickets and candidates. Election authorities plan to open 11 polling stations.
The neighborhood's famous Antar Square has become cluttered with massive posters and banners of all groups large, small, prominent and barely known.
Al-Azami said he'll be casting his vote for the Iraqi Consensus Front, a Sunni alliance.
"The first thing we are going to do when we enter parliament is put a timetable for foreign troop withdrawal," candidate Khalil al-Obeidi said outside Azamiyah's Abu Hanifa Mosque, Sunni Islam's holiest shrine in Iraq. "People want a better government."
The mosque was decorated with a banner reading, "Vote for Iraq's unity. The unity of its land and people. Iraqi Consensus Front."
Al-Obeidi said resistance — the preferred term among Sunnis for the insurgency — is just one of the ways to end the "occupation." Politics, he said, is another.
Another prominent Sunni candidate, Saleh al-Mutlaq, has campaigned against provisions in the constitution that would transform Iraq into a federated state — a step many Sunnis fear would lead to national disintegration.
"I will vote for the people who will preserve Iraq's Arab identity, unity and, of course, being part of the Islamic nation," said Ahmed al-Barej, 67, a retired civil servant. "I will vote for the slate led by Saleh al-Mutlaq. We see this man as sincere."
A former air-force general, Hussam-Eddine Mohammed, 66, said he was afraid to vote last January. This time he will cast his ballot for Adnan al-Dulaimi, who has spoken out against the Shiite-led government's alleged abuse of Sunnis, including mass arrests, killing and torture.
"Adnan was our voice when no one dared to talk, and therefore I will vote for him in the coming elections. I see him as the voice of righteousness when Iraq is in darkness," Mohammed said.
Oh, crap. Now we have a Democrapic party in Iraq. Whine, whine, whine.
Bush's fault, without doubt!
Anyone else notice the similarity with Sunni and Suwwi (the hog call)? Maybe it's just me...
Boy, this is bad news for the Dem's and MSM...
Dean, Pelosi, Kennedy and Kerry are deeply saddened...
Expecting the Sunnis and Baathists to be sweet little puppy dogs and play nice is foolish. If they win power, they will resume their attempts (with some legality) to annhilate the Shia and the Kurds.
If they lose, they will continue their attempts (without the legality) to annhilate the Shia and the Kurds.
The election is meaningless to the events of the near future.
The Sunnis will never have that kind of power...unless brought to them at the end of an RPG.
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