• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Iraq's Sunnis must use political process: senator

Posted on: Sunday, 16 October 2005, 11:45 CDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq's constitutional referendum should encourage opposition Sunni Arabs to work through the political process, which would help avoid a regional war, weaken the insurgency and speed the U.S. pullout, a leading U.S. senator said on Sunday.

With the U.S.-backed constitution apparently headed for approval after Saturday's vote, Sen. Joe Biden said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that parliamentary elections in December now are crucial to quelling Iraqi insurgents.

Sunnis, who are a minority in Iraq but dominated the country during Saddam Hussein's reign, had opposed the constitution as a U.S. plot but apparently did not muster enough votes to reject it.

"Without a political solution -- the Sunnis buying into a constitution some time after the election in December -- there's no possibility," the Delaware Democrat said. "If that occurs, there's a possibility that the insurgency that's home-grown will decide that the political answer is the way out, not violence."

Biden said the strength of the Sunni "no" vote on the constitution would give insight to Iraq's future. Even if as many as 60 percent of Sunni voters had opposed the constitution, it still would show that a large block had some faith in a political solution, he said.

"If the Sunnis don't buy into this constitution over the next two months by voting for Sunnis in the parliament and trying to get the constitution amended, we may find a regional war, not just a civil war," said Biden, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"If it succeeds, the political process, I predict you'll see a drawdown of American forces by this time next year."

Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska, said he also expected to see U.S. forces leaving Iraq next year.

Hagel said the constitutional referendum also provided an opportunity for calling a regional security conference under U.N. sponsorship to discuss Iraq.

"The United States takes a secondary position," he said. "Everyone has a role in this because it is a regional problem. Our influence is waning, will continue to wane, so I think it's important to put this into perspective of a regional context."

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category