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Sunni political voice gets tuned for elections
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Sunni political voice gets tuned for elections
By HAMZA HENDAWI,Associated Press Writer AP - Friday, January 30
YOUSSIFIYAH, Iraq - Salah Jalab is a Sunni strongman in training.
He's already taken over the Saidat clan's 250-strong militia force. His father, an influential sheik, has schooled him in the nuances of local politics in their district south of Baghdad.
But when it comes to Iraq's central government, he complains about feeling helpless and bullied.
Jalab claims the Shiite leadership in Baghdad forced him to slash his clan's militia size from 500 and has ordered the demolition of its two-room headquarters.
"We are under so much pressure from our Shiite brothers," said Jalab.
An outpouring of such Sunni emotions _ resentment, frustration, desire to step off the political sidelines _ is expected in Saturday's elections for provincial council seats.
Across the Sunni Arab heartland _ a vast wedge of Iraq between the Kurdish north and Shiite south _ the voting offers the region's first real political personality test since the 2003 invasion swept away the Sunni benefactor and guardian, Saddam Hussein.
The contests for local councils are about who will be carrying the strongest Sunni voice in the years ahead as the U.S. military presence shrinks and Iraqi authorities struggle with every conceivable challenge _ from preventing the insurgency from rebuilding to keeping the lights burning.
Sunnis, who widely boycotted the last provincial council elections in 2005, are believed to be falling in two general directions: either toward the Sunni Iraqi Islamic party in the current government or the newly influential Sunni tribes who rose up against al-Qaida in Iraq and other jihadist groups.
But people such as the younger Jalab suggest a more nuanced picture _ though one that still means more Sunni pressure on the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
He is proud of his clan's militia _ and their role in joining the U.S.-funded fight against insurgents _ but does not fully support the other Sunni tribal sheiks who want to create a new political movement. Instead, the 42-year-old Jalab is leaning toward the Iraqi Islamic Party led by Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi.
The local councils do not set national policies, but have significant authority in commercial and security affairs in their jurisdiction.
"We have been slaughtered by the Shiites and fellow Sunnis, and our families have been through so much," said Jalab's father and mentor, Sheik Faisal Jalab. "We are worried that things may take a turn for the worse again."
Such resignation has been widespread among Sunnis who have so far lacked the resources and the firm leadership to challenge the major Shiite parties
The provincial elections may display greater Sunni political ambitions but still leave them divided.
In the western Anbar province, where the uprising against the insurgents began in late 2006, the established Iraqi Islamic Party is being seriously challenged by the groups that became known as Awakening Councils.
Leaflets distributed this week in the former insurgency stronghold of Fallujah in Anbar charged that the Islamic Party was following an agenda set by the Americans and by Shiite power Iran. They carry images of al-Hashemi with former U.S. President George W. Bush and _ separately, of course _ with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In Anbar's provincial capital of Ramadi, senior Awakening leader Eid al-Hayess blamed the Islamic Party for the ills of the province and accused it of spending reconstruction funds on its election campaign.
As with Jalab's men in Youssifiyah, responsibility for the U.S.-backed Awakening fighters _ who number 94,000 at present _ is transferring from the Americans to al-Maliki's government, often over the opposition of the fighters themselves.
"Our place in today's Iraq is empty," said Yassin al-Ghereiri, a senior agricultural researcher employed by the government and a candidate in the election from Youssifiyah. The town, about 15 miles south of Baghdad, was once part of the notorious "triangle of death" filled with insurgent attacks and sectarian killings.
By the time the fight against al-Qaida and Shiite militiamen here was over, Youssifiyah's agriculture-base economy was ruined, as was the goodwill that had existed between its Shiites and Sunnis.
Fear of Shiite reprisals is not uncommon among the Sunnis of Youssifiyah, who allege that the Shiite Supreme Council is using its vast financial resources to influence residents with gifts such as free blankets and heaters. The claims could not be independently confirmed.
"Sadly, some of our Sunni brothers are falling for this and are now rooting for the Council," said al-Ghereiri.
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