Mediator: Extremists Pushing Iraq to Civil War

[Barrett808]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S.-led administration in Iraq must move swiftly to contain growing Islamic extremism or risk the country descending into civil war, a senior Anglican envoy mediating between rival Muslim parties said on Monday.

"The CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) underestimated the importance of religious groups. Now they are realizing how serious it is," said Canon Andrew White, the Archbishop of Canterbury's special representative to the Middle East.

"They must quickly empower moderate clerics and engage (talk to) radicals or all-out civil war could erupt in Iraq," he told Reuters in an interview.

White said moderate clerics believe a series of bombings that have rattled postwar Iraq were carried out by hard-line Sunni Muslims from Saudi Arabia as well as radical Iraqi Shi'ites who are gaining widespread influence.

The CPA is faced with the daunting task of building relations with a complex web of rival Iraqi clerics at a time when neighboring countries are exploiting the political vacuum after the fall of Saddam Hussein in April, White said.

"Iranian clerics are gaining a lot of influence on the ground and there are huge sums of money flowing in from Iran and from Wahhabis (radical Sunnis) in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates," said White.

(more)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=3602349

[young_at_heart]

1. Is this a consequence of our rush to war?

Or as someone in my local paper said yesterday, "Thank God for our president fighting fanatics over there instead of here". I guess they just aren't concernead about all this chaos and misery.

[damnraddem]

3. Well, Dubya could hardly fight the fanatics here --

after all, he's one of them.

[damnraddem]

2. How can Dubya's thugs contain extremists pushing Iraq to civil war?

When Dubya's thugs are among the extremists pushing Iraq toward civil war? Case in point: the idiotic idea of importing Turkish troops into Iraq.

[MetaTrope]

4. Bush negotiate with terrorists!?

Never! Unless they're his dad's business partners.

[underpants]

5. Sounds like Yugoslavia all over again

If only someone had foreseen this possibility happening...........if only.

[TahitiNut]

6. duplicate

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=163690