Mecca agreement
The Arab League (AL) on Saturday welcomed the Mecca agreement reached by major Iraqi factions, in which Muslim Shiite and Sunni groups called for a stop to bloodshed and an end to sectarian violence, the League said in a press statement.AL Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Ahmed Bin Helli said the agreement is the most worthy result of ongoing Arab and regional efforts to help Iraq overcome its current crisis.
Concerted efforts and coordination are needed in Iraq’s case, Helli said, voicing hope that the series of edicts issued by the Iraqi religious leadership in Mecca Friday will find resonance among the country’s Sunni and Shiite militants.
Iraq’s Shiite and Sunni groups reached the agreement in a signed document, or final communique under which “spilling Muslim blood is forbidden”, at the end of their two-day Mecca meeting organized by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
According to media reports, the 10-point document, drafted by a group of four clerics from two communities under OIC auspices, calls for safeguarding of the two communities’ holy places, defending the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq and the release of “all innocent detainees.”
In details, the majority of the 10-point document edicts forbidding kidnappings, incitement of hatred, attacks on mosques and Shiite places of worship.
I certainly hope that this has an effect. Increasingly, the Iraqi people themselves are going to have to take charge of, and responsibility for, their situation. This seems to me to be a positive sign that that is happening.
Unfortunately, the only way out is for Iraqis to stop slaughtering each other. The fact that it has come to this, however, is inexcusable. Saddam may have been a monster, but his people were better off when he was governing. The U.S. had no business invading, and if people who are against the war don’t keep politicians accountable, then it will happen again. In fact, there are indications it *is* about to happen again.
http://www.harpers.org/TheNextWar.html