Arab League Pushes UN Resolution for United Iraq

[maddezmom]

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The Arab League, concerned that Iraq could splinter, is pushing for a United Nations Security Council resolution to ensure the country is never partitioned and that oil wealth is fairly distributed among Iraqis, the organization's top official said.

Secretary-General Amr Moussa, in an interview today on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said he pitched the idea to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to Egypt earlier this month.

While Rice endorsed the principles he outlined for the resolution, Moussa said she didn't embrace the idea of formalizing them at the UN.

``My suggestion is we agree on certain basic principles to be adopted by the Security Council,'' Moussa said. Besides rejecting partition and advocating fair distribution of oil money, Moussa said the resolution should urge the disarming of militias and stress the importance of citizenship as a unifier of Iraqis. The measure also should push for reconciliation among religious factions, he said.

more;http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&sid=aC.EsGD5I4OI

Iraqi occupation was idiotic but Baghdad must be secured: Iraqi VP
DAVOS, Switzerland : The US-led occupation of Iraq after Saddam Hussein was toppled was an "idiot" decision, Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi said Thursday during the World Economic Forum here.

However, Mahdi cautioned that winning the "war" in Baghdad, where US troop levels have recently been reinforced, would be crucial to ending the spiral of violence in the country.
more:http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/254697/1/.html

[maddezmom]

1. Pro-Western Gulf states fear Iraq violence spillover

DOHA (AFP) - The pro-Western monarchies of the Gulf, Sunni-ruled but with significant Shiite communities, are increasingly fearful of a spillover of the sectarian violence raging in neighbouring Iraq.

Shiites, in the minority in all but the small island state of Bahrain, say the Gulf states' immense oil wealth has helped to prevent the acute sense of grievance fuelled in Iraq by the oppressive policies of Saddam Hussein's Sunni Arab dominated regime.

But Sunni analysts say the growing clout of Shiite-ruled Iran and its struggle for influence with regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia risk fomenting dangerous tensions.

"There is a real danger of sectarian sedition in the Gulf region," Kuwaiti writer Abdullah Nafissi told AFP Thursday.

more;http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070125/wl_mideast_afp/gulfiraqiranpoliticsshiite_070125120152

[denverbill]

2. Haha. "and that oil wealth is fairly distributed among Iraqis". Among Iraqis. Yeah right.

We haven't spent 1/2 trillion dollars to give that wealth to the Iraqis you know.