17 December 2004 With the date fast approaching for the first parliamentary elections since Saddam Hussein was toppled, Baghdad’s neighbors are already fretting about the likely outcome: a Shiite majority for the first time in modern Iraqi history. That could lead to a dramatic shift in the geopolitical balance between Shiite and Sunni Muslims across the Middle East. Expressing the concerns of many in the region, Jordan’s King Abdullah last…
Tag: Shiite
Opposition Squabbles
20 December 2002 The US wanted the recent London gathering of Iraqi exiles to be a media event — and that’s exactly what it was. The haggling among the 350-plus opposition members at the four-day meeting, not to mention the outcome, showed the wisdom of Washington’s insistence that all fundamental issues related to a new political system in a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq be avoided. The US had urged the attendees,…