After the First and Second Battles of Fallujah, in which the U.S. military laid siege and waste to the Iraqi city of Fallujah, a huge majority of Sunni Iraqis boycotted the January 2005 election (some reports suggested that only 10% of Sunnis voted) over what was widely perceived to be unjust and unnecessary U.S. military force. Prior to the elections (November 2004), the Iraqi Islamic Party, one the most influential Sunni political groups, withdrew from the interim government in protest over the two sieges. The tension between Sunnis and the elected Iraqi government continued for the next three years. In 2007, another major Sunni party, the Accord Front, withdrew from Nouri al-Maliki’s government, further solidifying the Sunni discontent over the presence of U.S. forces and the overwhelming power of Shi’ite Iraqis.
But today comes some positive news. One cannot underestimate the importance of the presence of Sunnis in the Iraq government. From CNN:
Saleem Abdullah, a spokesman for the Iraqi Accord Front bloc, said the parliament voted overwhelmingly Saturday to appoint six members of his bloc to Cabinet posts, including one as deputy prime minister.
The United States and Iraq have cited the inclusion of Sunni Arabs in Iraq’s political lifeblood as a major factor in restoring political stability and improving the atmosphere for national unity.
The Accord Front’s return was part of a deal announced July 1 in which Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, accepted proposals from the bloc for five candidates to fill the several ministries that bloc members vacated last summer.
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