SIMPSON-WILLIAMS_TO PRINT.DOC
226
11/20/2008 6:07:34 PM
AM. U. INT’L L. REV.
[24:191
the ethno-sectarian division of Iraq would fail to capitalize on the emerging political cooperation. As Jason Gluck of the United States Institute of Peace adeptly observed, “February 13 may . . . be remembered as the day when issue-politics rose above ethnic and sectarian ideology.” 175 On February 13, 2008, Iraqi politics “moved to a new level” by achieving two compromises necessary to pass three laws (Provincial Powers Law, Amnesty Law, and 2008 Budget). 176 First, the linking of the three laws reflected compromise from all parties. Generally speaking, the Kurds prioritized revenue distribution, the Sunnis the Amnesty law, and the Shi’a the provincial powers law (though there were conflicting positions among the Shi’a groups). 177 Second, by bundling the three laws together the parties found a “creative and unprecedented” means of achieving accord in Iraqi politics. 178 The compromises of February 13, 2008, though momentous, are not an anomaly in Iraqi politics. Prior compromises reflect the ability of Iraqis to work together and often go unnoticed or unannounced by those proposing the ethno-division of Iraq. In October of 2006, Sunnis, Sadrists, and secularists joined to temporarily block passage of the Law on the Executive Procedures to Form Regions. 179 In “response to the June 13, 2007 bombing of the al-Askari Mosque in Samarra” various ethnic and sectarian leaders made unified statements “condemning the act and calling for calm.” 180 In January 2008, a coalition of ten Shi’a and Sunni political parties formed the 175. JASON GLUCK, UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE, FROM GRIDLOCK TO COMPROMISE: HOW THREE LAWS COULD BEGIN TO TRANSFORM IRAQI POLITICS (2008), http://www.usip.org/pubs/usipeace_briefings/2008/0319_iraqi_politics .html. 176. See id. (describing how the passage of the three independently significant laws, the result of concessions and compromise among the parties, revealed a new period in the Iraqi political dynamics). 177. See id. (detailing each of the major ethnicities’ priorities: the Kurds receiving seventeen percent of the national revenue, the Sunnis obtaining the release of thousands of detainees, and the Shi’a providing limited autonomy for provinces with a deadline for provincial elections). 178. Id. 179. Law of the Executive Procedures Regarding the Formation of Regions (2006) (Iraq). 180. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, MEASURING STABILITY AND SECURITY IN IRAQ: SEPTEMBER 2007 REPORT TO CONGRESS 1 (2007), http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/Signed-Version-070912.pdf.