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Article: After election, Iraq's Kurds find themselves in position of power.
- Article from:
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO)
- Article date:
- February 18, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 St. Louis Post-Dispatch. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Harry Levins
Thanks to a strong showing at the polls, Iraq's Kurds find themselves holding a power broker's high cards. That's no small feat, given that the Kurds are twice a minority:
In religion _ unlike Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims _ the Kurds are Sunni Muslims.
In ethnic makeup _ unlike Iraq's Sunni Muslims (and Shiites too) _ the Kurds are not Arabs.
But the Kurds turned out so heavily for the elections of Jan. 30 that they won 26 percent of the vote. That's more than enough to make them vital to the Shiites who led the voting.
The Shiites won 48 percent _ short of a majority, and far short of the two-thirds ...