NYT - U.S. Is Suggesting Prominent Posts for Iraq's Sunnis

[matt819]

Apparently not satisfied with dictatorship in the US, the administration is making plans to insert non-elected Iraqis into key positions after the elections in January. So much for sovereignty and free and fair elections. It's all a crock.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/international/middleeast/26diplo.html?hp&ex=1104037200&en=dc34a08c61975e6d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

<snip>
The Bush administration is talking to Iraqi leaders about guaranteeing Sunni Arabs a certain number of ministries or high-level jobs in the future Iraqi government if, as is widely predicted, Sunni candidates fail to do well in Iraq's elections.

An even more radical step, one that a Western diplomat said was raised already with an aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, is the possibility of adding some of the top vote-getters among the Sunni candidates to the 275-member legislature, even if they lose to non-Sunni candidates.

. . . The idea of altering election results is so sensitive that administration officials who spoke about it did not want their names revealed. Some experts on Iraq say such talk could undercut efforts to drum up support for voting in Sunni areas.

It was not known whether Ayad Allawi, the Iraqi prime minister, has been consulted about the possibility of taking such action. . .
<snip>

The article observes that this is not without precedent in the region. Fair enough. But where does the US get off interfering in this manner? Silly me, but shouldn't this be for the Iraqis to determine?