The Iraqi electoral commission has decided to ban as many as over 500 potential candidates allegedly tied to the outlawed Baath Party of Saddam Hussein and will be barred from running in the March 7 elections.
Many are known to be Iraq’s minority Sunni Muslims, formerly mostly allied with Hussein. The decision last week by the Justice and Accountability Commission, which handles Iraq’s “de-Baathification” efforts, outraged the Sunni population.
Many think that this is an effort to disenfranchise Sunnis and allow the Shiite population to win more seats and thus continue to control the government. The Shiites now dominate the government mostly because the Sunnis boycotted the last election.
This is a dangerous path to follow and could lead to the Sunni return to supporting the insurgents or even lead to a civil war.
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Maybe not the shot heard around the world, but surely will be heard throughout Iraq and may well be the first salvo in their revolution. What would you do if you a Sunni?