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2012 january 20 iraq and gulf analysis iraq and gulf analysis home about archives august 2015 january 2015 december 2014 october 2014 september 2014 august 2014 july 2014 june 2014 may 2014 april 2014 march 2014 february 2014 january 2014 december 2013 november 2013 october 2013 september 2013 august 2013 july 2013 june 2013 may 2013 april 2013 march 2013 february 2013 january 2013 december 2012 november 2012 october 2012 september 2012 august 2012 july 2012 june 2012 may 2012 april 2012 march 2012 february 2012 january 2012 december 2011 november 2011 october 2011 september 2011 august 2011 july 2011 june 2011 may 2011 april 2011 march 2011 february 2011 january 2011 december 2010 november 2010 october 2010 september 2010 august 2010 july 2010 june 2010 may 2010 april 2010 march 2010 february 2010 january 2010 december 2009 november 2009 october 2009 september 2009 august 2009 july 2009 june 2009 may 2009 april 2009 march 2009 february 2009 january 2009 december 2008 november 2008 october 2008 september 2008 august 2008 july 2008 june 2008 may 2008 april 2008 march 2008 february 2008 january 2008 december 2007 november 2007 october 2007 september 2007 august 2007 july 2007 june 2007 may 2007 april 2007 march 2007 february 2007 january 2007 december 2006 november 2006 october 2006 september 2006 august 2006 july 2006 june 2006 may 2006 april 2006 march 2006 february 2006 january 2006 december 2005 november 2005 october 2005 august 2005 categories basra and southern regionalism 34 de baathification 11 federalism in sunni majority areas of iraq 14 federalism in the middle east 6 iranian influence in iraq 55 iraq regionalism general 27 iraq and soft partition 39 iraq international relations 5 iraq local elections 2013 21 iraq parliament membership 13 iraq parliamentary elections 2014 26 iraq s 2010 parliamentary election 175 iraqi constitutional issues 280 iraqi nationalism 95 kirkuk and disputed territories 47 oil in iraq 46 rule of law 2 sectarian master narrative 55 shiite sectarian federalism 16 uia dynamics 133 uncategorized 59 us policy in iraq leverage issues 67 meta create account log in entries feed comments feed wordpress com my latest book on amazon com from just world books available on amazon com twitter updates tweets by reidarvisser january 2012 m t w t f s s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 dec feb subscribe entries rss comments rss recent posts legality and constitutionality questions in iraq s reform push the federalism dimension in yemen s draft constitution federalism and decentralization in libya s constitutional proposals groundbreaking iraq supreme court ruling on the law on mp replacement after the rise of isis will iraq s shiites secede additional ministers approved for the iraq cabinet the controversial kurdish ministers in the new iraqi cabinet the iraqi parliament fails to approve new security ministers the iraqi parliament approves the abbadi cabinet haydar al abbadi is the new iraq pm candidate maliki the presidency and parliament in the iraq pm nomination battle pm nomination trouble in iraq iraq elects fuad masum as new president for the first time in iraq a large field of presidential candidates the iraqi parliament elects its new speakership archive for january 20th 2012 blame it on the iraqis christopher hill goes rural posted by reidar visser on friday 20 january 2012 13 50 in his tireless efforts to convince the world that political problems in post withdrawal iraq cannot possibly be attributed to his own tenure as the us ambassador in baghdad from 2009 to 2010 christopher hill today presents a new twist to his narrative having apparently realised the failure of his previous attempt to explain that it is all the fault of iraqis hill now informs us that the really really deep sectarian conflict in iraq is rooted in the rural parts of the country according to hill we other mortal iraq analysts who focus on the politics of baghdad urban bias are incapable of seeing the big picture because we are not privy to the ambassador s unique rustic insights forget about baghdad and its artificial coexistence between sects instead consider the countryside trips outside of the capital to sunni dominated anbar or shia controlled southern iraq often reveal a country much more focused on and animated by the sunni shia divide and this phenomenon did not begin with the us led invasion it had a thousand year head start it is hard to know where to begin for example did hill take note of the recent episode in dhi qar where a sunni soldier nazhan al jibburi sacrificed his life to stop a terrorist attacking mainly shiite targets and immediately had streets and new born shiite children named for him maybe that was not rural enough let s venture further away from the urban distortions of the real iraq and try to reach the rural purity that hill doubtless found unadulterated of course by any possible presence of american security details or other distractions of non iraqi origin did ambassador hill consult some of the best anthropological material on iraq like the marsh dwellers of the euphrates delta by sm al salim 1962 relating to chubayish between basra and dhi qar or shaikh and effendi by r a fernea 1970 relating to daghara in the mid euphrates there really is not much about sectarian conflict in those volumes but maybe the 1970s were exceptional maybe the 1960s were exceptional too perhaps the generally peaceful monarchical period and the late ottoman eras were exceptional too if the ambassador is so sure about a thousand year head start for sectarian problems why doesn t he at least do us the favour of enumerating some historical empirical examples of bloody sectarian conflict in iraq say between 1650 and 1970 to back up his own impressions today hill is telling us that iraqiyya is essentially a sunni party and as such it should by definition accept a secondary role in iraqi politics there are many good reasons for iraqiyya to reconsider its relationship with maliki but the idea of accepting that shia majority rule is an immovable fact of life just isn t one of them the examples of shiites bitterly disagreeing with each others are simply too many for iraqis to accept this kind of simplistic and essentialist formula for their politics do these problems really have nothing to do with the conflict paradigm of iraqi politics that seems to have been a staple of most us ambassadors in baghdad from paul bremer via zalmay khalilzad and ryan crocker to hill himself does hill not realise that some of his own policies actually abetted sectarian tensions for example when he was apologetic about the de baathification excesses of early 2010 one good thing about the latest revelation by hill is that it may help explain some of his own delphic policies most of the time hill was out in the desert hiking with camels and doing anthropological research hopefully to be published in a soon to come landmark tome posted in sectarian master narrative 64 comments create a free website or blog at wordpress com subscribe subscribed iraq and gulf analysis join 203 other subscribers sign me up already have a wordpress com account log in now privacy iraq and gulf analysis subscribe subscribed sign up log in report this content view site in reader manage subscriptions collapse this bar design a site like this with wordpress com get started