I think everyone can agree that if you go to the trouble of organizing an Iraqi political reconciliation conference, it's generally a bad sign if a number of key players don't even show up.
The idea behind the conference pushed by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki was to have a national "dialogue."The largest Sunni bloc, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party, and a prominent minority party of Shiites and Sunnis all boycotted the conference. No representatives of the insurgency (either Baathist or militia members) were there. Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr walked out of the conference, as did a prominent Sunni tribal leader who's been key to the so-called "Anbar Awakening."
Typical of Iraq, the boycotters don't even concur on their reason for boycotting.
Read on for the depressing details.
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