IRAQ: Sadrist-organized Sunni-Shia conference in Baghdad demands US withdrawal - Arablinks

[sukant....@gmail.com]

Monday, March 24, 2008
Sadrist-organized Sunni-Shia conference in Baghdad demands US
withdrawal
http://arablinks.blogspot.com/2008/03/sadrist-organized-sunni-shia-
conference.html

This is about a meeting that took place in the NW Baghdad district
of Kadhamiya. Voices of Iraq says the meeting, organized by the Sadr
organization, included 300 tribal leaders, Shia and Sunni, from
throughout Iraq, but the meeting also dealt with local issues
including a promised re-opening of the "Bridge of the Imams" that
links this mainly Shiite neighborhood on the west bank of the
Euphrates with its twin district Adhamiya, mainly Sunni, on the east
bank. (There is a nice satellite map on the website of the Meeting
Resistance film, which was mostly filmed in Adhamiya).
http://meetingresistance.com/map.html
Among the main points in the final statement of the meeting: A
demand for scheduled withdrawal of the occupation forces from Iraq;
and a statement to the effect the foreign forces are responsible for
the internal divisions that have plagued Iraq since the invasion.

Statements to VOI by participants indicated that there had been
considerable groundwork for this meeting, including reciprocal
visits between Shiite and Sunni tribal leaders. Moreover, it looks
as if the organizers of this consider this more than just an
isolated or local reconciliation event, because VOI leads its story
like this:

The first Iraqi tribal conference wound up its proceedings on
Sunday, in Kadhamiya, Baghdad, with the issuance of a final
statement that demanded a schedule for the withdrawal of foreign
forces from Iraq, and commitment to the return of those removed from
their homes, and compensation for their damages.

The journalist doesn't mention future plans that would explain the
expression "the first Iraqi tribal conference".

Among the other points mentioned in the declaration:
The participants committed to the rejection of terror in all its
forms, and to the combating of the AlQaeda organization throughout
Iraq, in addition to serious work toward the return of those
displaced...

(VOI hasn't yet posted an English language version of this item, but
presumably in due course it will).