With Iraq Mired in Turmoil, Some Call for Partitioning the Country - The New York Times - 0 views
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With tens of thousands of protesters marching in the streets of Baghdad to demand changes in government, Iraq’s Shiite prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, appeared before Parliament this week hoping to speed the process by introducing a slate of new ministers
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But, like so much else in the Iraqi government, the effort fell short, with only a handful of new ministers installed and several major ministries,
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With the Islamic State in control of territory in Iraq and Syria; expanding into Libya, Afghanistan and elsewhere; and having carried out attacks in Paris and Brussels, it is perhaps easy to forget that the group rose in the first place as a consequence of the failure of politics in Iraq
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Writing last year in Foreign Affairs, Mr. Khedery said Washington should “abandon its fixation with artificial borders”
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Even today, her legacy is felt: This week, Mr. Abadi put forward Sharif Ali bin Hussein, a descendant of King Faisal, who was chosen by Ms. Bell in 1921 to rule Iraq, as foreign minister. But lawmakers rejected him as a reminder of Iraq’s failed monarchy.
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Mr. Biden has worked to promote Iraqi unity, despite his proposal a decade ago to divide Iraq into thirds. But in comments on Thursday to American diplomatic and military personnel in Baghdad, he harked back to that proposal.
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Shiites and Kurds, oppressed under Mr. Hussein’s Sunni-dominated administration, have been unable to overcome their grievances.
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“It is like a vehicle traveling over rocky terrain, with a large rearview mirror but only a keyhole for a windscreen
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Divisions within the Shiite leadership — with Mr. Maliki and others pushing back against Mr. Abadi’s efforts at restructuring — are also at the core of the current political crisis.
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Hadi al-Ameri, a Shiite rival to Mr. Abadi, who runs a powerful militia that is supported by Iran, is seen by many as harboring ambitions to replace him.