Juan,
CPA proponents would probably argue that Sunnis were brought on board for the constitution as there was an effort to include a Sunni party into deliberations towards (I believe) the last two months of drafting. However, the final drafts were taken out of the transitional national assembly's hands and revised by a smaller "leadership council" whose precise membership remains the subject of debate -- so it ended up being extraordinarily unrepresentative of the views of most Iraqis. Zaid al-Ali details the process in his book.
"Iran and Iraq were probably at one point in a nuclear arms race with one another... so it is remarkable that Baghdad defends Iran’s right to enrich uranium for peaceful energy purposes."
It's not really that remarkable considering the fact that a completely different regime currently runs Iraq.
"The turning point came in 1983, as the Reagan administration reevaluated its policy toward the Middle East. "
Wasn't the somewhat mute response to the invasion by the UN Security Council a pretty early indication that the US position was tilted towards Iraq at a prior point?
"(both communities still use the Arabic language and even continue to conduct worship services in Arabic)."
As a member of the Assyrian diaspora I'd like to note that this statement isn't factually accurate based on my first-hand experiences.
Most Assyrians from Iraq that I've come into contact with over the years do speak Arabic, just as most Assyrians I've met who've grown up in the US or UK speak English.
But they also speak what they consider to be their own language, "Assyrian" (Neoaramaic or Eastern Syriac or something to that effect is the formal name... forgive the lack of academic formality).
According to the emigres (who left Iraq anytime between the early 60's to around the time of W's war) I've come into contact with, Syriac was spoken in Iraq. It's also definitely the language spoken in services in all Church of East services I've been to in the US.
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Juan,
CPA proponents would probably argue that Sunnis were brought on board for the constitution as there was an effort to include a Sunni party into deliberations towards (I believe) the last two months of drafting. However, the final drafts were taken out of the transitional national assembly's hands and revised by a smaller "leadership council" whose precise membership remains the subject of debate -- so it ended up being extraordinarily unrepresentative of the views of most Iraqis. Zaid al-Ali details the process in his book.
"Iran and Iraq were probably at one point in a nuclear arms race with one another... so it is remarkable that Baghdad defends Iran’s right to enrich uranium for peaceful energy purposes."
It's not really that remarkable considering the fact that a completely different regime currently runs Iraq.
Politicians can be hawkish about more than just states in the age of the War on Terror though.
"The turning point came in 1983, as the Reagan administration reevaluated its policy toward the Middle East. "
Wasn't the somewhat mute response to the invasion by the UN Security Council a pretty early indication that the US position was tilted towards Iraq at a prior point?
"(both communities still use the Arabic language and even continue to conduct worship services in Arabic)."
As a member of the Assyrian diaspora I'd like to note that this statement isn't factually accurate based on my first-hand experiences.
Most Assyrians from Iraq that I've come into contact with over the years do speak Arabic, just as most Assyrians I've met who've grown up in the US or UK speak English.
But they also speak what they consider to be their own language, "Assyrian" (Neoaramaic or Eastern Syriac or something to that effect is the formal name... forgive the lack of academic formality).
According to the emigres (who left Iraq anytime between the early 60's to around the time of W's war) I've come into contact with, Syriac was spoken in Iraq. It's also definitely the language spoken in services in all Church of East services I've been to in the US.