Iraq Press Roundup

Copying the experiment of alliances with parties

In today's Iraq, the measure of loyalty and competency of the Iraqi people is measured by their party allegiance.

The new Iraqi government has applied the concept of testing people's loyalty by assessing their involvement in political parties, a method used by the Saddam Hussein regime for more than three decades, Addustour newspaper said Wednesday.

The promises the new government gave to the Iraqi people, such as equal opportunity and basing political leadership on competency, are completely false, the newspaper said. As soon as the new leadership took office, it abandoned its principles and followed the policies of the former regime by forcing officials to pick a party before assigning them a position in the government.

Placing little emphasis on the education or experience of public servants is unethical and follows the policy of dictatorship, resulting in widespread corruption and chaos through all of Iraq.

Is it acceptable to shake Clinton's hand?

People are questioning the decision of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to appoint his former rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., as his secretary of state, because she is the one who will be tasked with visiting other countries, the independent Sot al-Iraq news service said Wednesday.

The Iraqi government faces many diplomatic and ethical problems with Clinton as the new secretary of state, despite claims that Obama feels she is the most suitable person for the job.

It remains unclear how devout Muslim leaders in Iraq would react if Clinton were to shake their hands. The pressure on Iraq to act in accordance with the bilateral agreement of "friendship" and "collaboration" may be enough reason for these men to go against their beliefs. These men may soon be in a position to consider violating the holy Koran and mixing with members of the opposite sex, or face offending the new U.S. secretary of state.

The disappointment of the Iraqi national project

The "national project" in Iraq is now before the political parties and various factions to discuss ahead of the January provincial elections.

Political disputes and subsequent compromises have brought concepts of the Iraqi interior policy in line with the constitution, the independent Azzaman newspaper said Wednesday.

The reality on the ground, however, is that most of the articles of the constitution rarely suit the political situation or the ambitions of the Iraqi people. In fact, several provisions in the constitution divided the people along ethnic lines when it should have focused on national unity.

Meanwhile, several of the political parties in Iraq say that diversity and broad divisions are the only ways to gain widespread popular support. For example, the paper said, a "soft" partition of Iraq may bring positive results, but it cannot be implemented because the political environment is based on sectarianism and ethnicity.

Nevertheless, Prime Minster Nouri al-Maliki has taken the right step at the right time when suggesting that the political parties must reject talks of sectarianism and ethnic divisions as regional discussions draw closer.