Major Shiite Leader Travels To Ramadi To Promote “United States Of Iraq” To Sunnis
Anbar, Oct 14, (VOI) – Deputy Chief of the Shiite Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Ammar al-Hakim, arrived in the city of al-Ramadi to meet with tribal chiefs and members of the Sunni Anbar Awakening Council to discuss recent developments in Iraq, a Shiite legislator said.
“Ammar, the son of Shiite leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the SIIC and the (Shiite) Unified Iraqi Coalition, is also scheduled to discuss the security condition,” the legislator, a key member of the UIC, the largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament with 87 seats, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) on condition of anonymity.
The source did not give further details but said the details of the talks Hakim will have in Anbar will be announced later.
Ammar, the head of the SIIC’s Shahid al-Mihrab foundation, had called for speeding up the establishment of regions “within a federal system,” considering it as “a system that will be in the interest of the Iraqi people.”
Speaking before worshippers after Eidul-Fitr prayers in Baghdad on Saturday morning, Ammar al-Hakim suggested “the launching of a federal system from South Baghdad region (which comprises all predominantly-Shiite provinces).” He, however, underlined the need to maintain “Iraq’s territorial integrity.”
Ammar considered the establishment of a federacy in Iraq as “one of the approaches to consolidate this territorial integrity.”
UIC member Sheikh Hamid Maala had visited Ramadi on Saturday and met with tribal chiefs and members of the Anbar Awakening Council.
Ramadi, the capital of Sunni Anbar province, is 110 km west of Baghdad.
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Yeah well I’m not convinced this is such a great idea. They already have a constitution and an elected parliament. A ‘federation’ like that didn’t work so well in this country without a strong central government.
October 14th, 2007 at 12:52 pmCourse I could just be biased because it’s a plan that Biden has been behind for quite a while and that dipshit hasn’t had a good idea in like….well, ever.
I federated system is what we have right now anyway. The kurds run the show in kurdistan, and chaos reigns in sunni a shiite areas. I think it will help keep the kurds away from thinkiung about separating altogether.
October 14th, 2007 at 10:34 pm