Sunday, March 3, 2013

The Minister of Iraq Resigns Due to Protesting By: Nina Bharadwaj


     The Financial Minister of Iraq, Rafaie al-Esawi has publicly told the world about the fact that he has decided to resign and give up his job.  It was said that this was due to all of the Sunnis protesting against Rafaie al-Esawi. Apparently, the Sunnis show all of their grievances everyday. They have so many complaints opposed to the government that is dominated by the Shi'ite's, said his spokesman.
     Many Sunni people living in provinces such as Anbar and Mosul have wanted and need this end to how they are being treated. They say that they are being treated as "second class."
     The financial minister resigned because the government did not and has not yet met the protestors demands to end this marginalization. This was told to CNN by spokesman, Aysar Ali.
     These protests and demonstrations of complaints began towards the end of December. This all happened when Sunni people from their provinces went to the streets in Anbar province in order to protest to arrest and lock up al-Eswani's, a sunni, body guards.
     This arrest of many of Rafaie al-Eswani's bodyguards came just a few short hours after the president, Jalal Talabani left the country due to a severe stroke, two weeks after it happened. Jalal Talabani was a Kurd. He was viewed by so many people as a political force that made things stable for the countries. After he left, people were no longer kept stable, which may have been a cause for these protests.
     These protestors also are calling for the freedom of the detainees that, they say, are being held for no reason, without charges. This calls the government corrupt. It also accuses it of unfairly going against the Sunni people in Iraq. These large protests really began to get very bad in January. At a minimun, seven people were killed in shootings during a Sunni protest, in Falluja.
     The protests of the Sunni people have been opposed by Shi'ite supporters of the government. This raises fears that the sectarian division could possible bring violence to the streets of provinces. The Sunni people make up around 20% of Iraq's population which is about 27 million people.  About 65% of the population is Shi'ite.
     Since the killing of Saddam Hussein's mostly Sunni region, in 2003, Sunni's have ben disaffected. The gulf was enlarged in 2005 when Sunni's protested the election in the country. This started to create the Shi'ite dominated government.
Analysis: The author of this article, Hamdi Alkhshall, wrote this article to tell us about the conflict and tension that is going on in Iraq. The main idea of this article is that the Financial Minister of Iraq, Rafaie al-Esawi, told the public of his decision to give up his job due to protestors and the government not meeting the desires of the protestors. These protests began after the arrest of his bodyguards. There was bias against the Shi'ite's because we only were allowed to hear the Sunni's side of the situation. 
I agree with the decision of Rafaie al-Esawi. I appreciated how he gave up the job after his people, the Sunni, were not happy with the government. A lot of people wouldn't think about their religion as a whole. They would just think about themselves. I don't think it is fair that the Shi'ite's are dominating the government. This is the Sunni's home too, and they should be represented as well. I do hate that this protesting had to end up with seven dead people though. Peaceful protesting is okay, but when things get violent, a line needs to be drawn. I hope this conflict is resolved soon.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/01/world/meast/iraq-minister-resignation/index.html     

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