Posted on 11/14/2005 6:35:38 PM PST by SJackson
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa has announced that at least 100 Iraqi leaders will attend a national reconciliation conference in Cairo this weekend. The announcement, which offers a rare cause for optimism about the future prospects of Iraq's troubled political process, also revives the hope that the Arab League can play an active and effective role in resolving the region's problems.
Holding the reconciliation conference is of course no guarantee that Iraqis will find their way out of the current crisis and be spared a civil war. Even getting representatives from all of Iraq's diverse communities to agree to come to the negotiating table has been a huge challenge. Many prominent Shiite leaders have voiced opposition to the idea of holding any kind of dialogue with former Baathists. But in order for dialogue to be successful, it must include the participation of all Iraqi factions, particularly the Sunnis, who have been joining the anti-U.S. insurgency in droves. Moussa will have to continue straddling the demands of Iraq's divided communities to ensure the broadest participation possible if the goals of the conference are to be met. Negotiating such delicate issues will not be easy and maintaining the current momentum will require a considerable amount of follow up on the part of the Arab League.
It is a huge challenge for the Arab League to attempt to clean up the mess that the U.S.-led invasion has created in Iraq. But the Arab League, which unlike the United States brings with it an intimate knowledge of regional realities, is perhaps the best suited organization for the challenge. And the Arab League also need not go it alone. The United Nations, the Gulf Cooperation Council and top officials from the United States and the European Union, among others, have all voiced support for the reconciliation initiative. Having gained the backing of such a wide base of international supporters, the Arab League is in a good position to ask for unlimited support, whether political, logistical or financial
Reconciling Iraq's fractured communities is perhaps one of the most important challenges that the Arab League has taken on in the past 15 years. Not since the Arab League played a role in brokering the Taif Accord, which ended Lebanon's Civil War, has the pan-Arab organization showed much initiative. For years, the role of the Arab League has been limited to issuing statements championing the merits of an obsolete brand of pan-Arab nationalism. It is a welcome development to see the Arab League take a new turn. Now that Moussa has successfully steered the organization onto a new course - one of active involvement - there is cause for hope that the Arab League can continue to play a similar role in other key issues of regional concern. The international community's efforts to promote democratic reform, combat terrorism and tackle poverty and unemployment can all be greatly enhanced with the involvement of an active Arab League.
Might I suggest the Iraqis politely decline to be a guest of the butchers and tyrants.
What a joke. Clowns where praying on their flying carpets we would go in and remove the Butcher. Now they are to damn proud to admit we did their dirty work for them.
And this is one day after Egypt torpedoed a US inititive to call for democracy.... sigh.
And this is one day after Egypt torpedoed a US inititive to call for democracy.... sigh.
By letting Syria swallow Lebanon whole?
Who are these "top officials from the United States" who want to turn Iraq over to the Arab League, out of curiosity? Jean Kerry?
Too late "Arab league"... your chance came and went flooozieying out the window a few years ago.
Now a democratic nation is on all of your doorsteps, and that cat won't be put back into the bag.
Stew in your warming pot --- soon to be boiling.
It's how Democracy is spread on Planet Bizarro. Tyrants control the process.
Yeah, let the roaches scurry where they may...
The swine of the Arab league has nothing of value to offer Iraq,since they are all filthy swamps that are stuck in the fifth century.In five years Iraq will be more powerful than the entire league of filth combined.
"Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa has announced that at least 100 Iraqi leaders will attend a national reconciliation conference in Cairo this weekend."
Which 'leaders'? Leaders who actually have gotten elected or self-proclaimed leaders whose real power is the intimidation they create of others?
" The announcement, which offers a rare cause for optimism about the future prospects of Iraq's troubled political process,"
... Iraq's political process is healthier and better than most other mideast nations.
" ... also revives the hope that the Arab League can play an active and effective role in resolving the region's problems."
"Holding the reconciliation conference is of course no guarantee that Iraqis will find their way out of the current crisis and be spared a civil war."
Not at all, a better answer is Democracy.
" Even getting representatives from all of Iraq's diverse communities to agree to come to the negotiating table has been a huge challenge. Many prominent Shiite leaders have voiced opposition to the idea of holding any kind of dialogue with former Baathists. But in order for dialogue to be successful, it must include the participation of all Iraqi factions, particularly the Sunnis, who have been joining the anti-U.S. insurgency in droves."
ER, not lately.
" Moussa will have to continue straddling the demands of Iraq's divided communities to ensure the broadest participation possible if the goals of the conference are to be met."
... and still he won't 'represent' a fraction of the 10 million who voted in October and will vote again in December. What a joke! There is a way to do this, and it is not to bring baathist elites to a Cairo hotel, it is to hold elections that open, free and fair.
" Negotiating such delicate issues will not be easy and maintaining the current momentum will require a considerable amount of follow up on the part of the Arab League."
Iraq HAD the dialogue ... it was called the ELECTION, the WRITING OF THE CONSTITUTION and the CONFIRMATION of it.
The Arab league is trying to get in front of Iraq' democratic momentum and take credit for the work of others. phooey.
Blood is thicker than water. When all is quiet in Iraq we will leave and the Iraqui's will turn on us like rabid dogs.
Still we did the right thing.
Well put. "floooozieying". Ha ha. Haven't used that for a long time. The mess they refere to is the mess they see in the mirror the gaze at. They are scared sh*tless Iraq will not falter in it's quest for a democratic secular government. They know in their hearts their peoples in mass are watching, half dazed at times but watching and wondering. And that is what they fear the most.
Looks like 100 Iraqi leaders are looking for help putting the freedom genie back in the bottle and keeping their power and perks.
"It is a huge challenge for the Arab League to attempt to clean up the mess that the U.S.-led invasion has created in Iraq."
These people are beyond redemption, it would be hilarious if it were not tragic.
It is as if there is an entire subcontinent filled with "Baghdad Bobs" to whom truth is what they want it to be.
They had no problem at all with Saddam feeding his people into chipper shredders, gassing them, shooting them and generally butchering them by the hundreds of thousands.
That was no mess at all. I am sure the blood from those 300,000 to 600,000 people just soaked into the ground and was swallowed up by the marshes. No mess there.
LOL! Howard Dean...is SMARTER than someone?
Mess? What mess? This quote alone defines the narrow minded, antiAmerican Agenda of those even impying they support an Arab League. Time to let the same criminals who caused the original malaise be loosed upon the Arab leadership that even condone such a conference. Let them bear the risk of their behavior.
Barf..
"Not since the Arab League played a role in brokering the Taif Accord, which ended Lebanon's Civil War"
Sick propaganda from the Arab League Of Fascist States.
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