Austin Bay Blog

The AP reports that the Sunni boycott of the Iraqi constitution committee has ended. (For some reason the original link isn’t working– here’s a link to the Guardian’s AP story.)

Yesterday (July 24) I linked to John Burns’ “Iraq civil war” essay. Burns analyzed the rise of sectarian attacks in Iraq. Note, however, what the Saddmist/Zarqawi terrorists fear the most: Sunni political integration. These thugs are at war with Iraq’s with many members of Iraq’s Sunni community. I have yet to see the NY-DC-LA (call’em nid-claw?) media axis make that point in headlines. The point needs to be made–if only because it’s true.

The AP’s lede:

Sunni Arab members of a committee drafting Iraq’s new constitution ended their boycott Monday, six days after they walked out to protest the assassinations of two fellow Sunni constitution framers.

Their decision lifted the threat that the country’s new constitution would be a product of only two of three major Iraqi ethnic and religious groups, leaving out the Sunni Arabs who form the core of the insurgency and thus failing to provide a hope for a political exit from the incessant violence gripping the country…

…Six of the 12 Sunnis on the committee rejoined their colleagues Monday morning at the closed-door meeting, said Baqir Hammoudi, secretary to Humam Hammoudi, the head of the committee.

Sunni member Ali al-Mishhedani said the others were absent because they lived too far from Baghdad or had other personal commitments. He said the others were expected in Baghdad later in the day.

Saleh al-Mutlaq, another Sunni member, said the Sunnis would meet Tuesday to review the charter’s preliminary draft.

The Sunnis had announced they were suspending participation in the committee to protest last Tuesday’s assassination of Sunni committee member Mijbil Issa and adviser Dhamim Hussein al-Obeidi.

Sunni Arab participation in the drafting is considered essential in order to win approval for the charter among the country’s influential minority, which forms the core of the anti-U.S. insurgency. The draft must be approved by parliament by Aug. 15 and submitted to the voters in an October referendum.

But following the assassinations, the 12 remaining Sunnis demanded an international investigation into the killings, better security and a greater Sunni role in deliberations. It was not clear whether all their demands had been accepted…