# Iraq's Kurdish president calls on Shi'ite PM to resign **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 3, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraqs-kurdish-president-calls-on-shiite-pm-to-resign/324641 "2005-10-03T21:14:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraqs-kurdish-president-calls-on-shiite-pm-to-resign/324641/1 "2005-10-03T21:14:00Z")
From CNews - World, 10/2/05 – [http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/10/02/1245460-ap.html:](http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/10/02/1245460-ap.html:) > [@](#): > > KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) - Iraq’s Kurdish president called on the country’s Shiite prime minister to step down, the spokesman for the president’s party said Sunday, escalating a political split between the two factions that make up the government. > > President Jalal Talabani has accused the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance, which holds the majority in parliament, of monopolizing power in the government and refusing to move ahead on a key issue for Kurds, the resettlement of Kurds in the northern city of Kirkuk. See also [http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2005-10/02/article05.shtml](http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2005-10/02/article05.shtml). If the Kurdish-Shi’ite alliance splits, what then? Will the Kurds declare independence? How will this affect the scheduled October 15 referendum on the new constitution? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraqs-kurdish-president-calls-on-shiite-pm-to-resign/324641/2 "2005-10-03T21:29:38Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > How will this affect the scheduled October 15 referendum on the new constitution? Not so much. The Iraqi parliament [just lowered the bar for passage](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6647620#post6647620) to the point where nothing short of the second coming of Jesus can stop it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraqs-kurdish-president-calls-on-shiite-pm-to-resign/324641/3 "2005-10-03T22:13:39Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Not so much. The Iraqi parliament [just lowered the bar for passage](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6647620#post6647620) to the point where nothing short of the second coming of Jesus can stop it. 😕 They can **do** that? Yeah, I guess so, why not . . . ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraqs-kurdish-president-calls-on-shiite-pm-to-resign/324641/4 "2005-10-04T13:36:22Z")
As alluded to in the OP, Kirkuk is the next big thing. Before all is said and done, it will take center stage in the struggle between the Kurds and everyone else. It’s too big a prize for either side to give up. And I’m not altogether sure why people think the adoption of the constitution will be “disastrous” for the insurgency. Why should it be, after all? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraqs-kurdish-president-calls-on-shiite-pm-to-resign/324641/5 "2005-10-04T15:32:43Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > And I’m not altogether sure why people think the adoption of the constitution will be “disastrous” for the insurgency. Why should it be, after all? Because then we will have turned a corner and the insurgency will be in it’s death throes. Or so I heard. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraqs-kurdish-president-calls-on-shiite-pm-to-resign/324641/6 "2005-10-04T15:58:05Z")
You said it. And how many corners do you have to turn before you end up right back where you started? ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraqs-kurdish-president-calls-on-shiite-pm-to-resign/324641/7 "2005-10-04T16:00:03Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > You said it. And how many corners do you have to turn before you end up right back where you started? Well, we talking about fractals here? Sua ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraqs-kurdish-president-calls-on-shiite-pm-to-resign/324641/8 "2005-10-04T16:08:00Z")
I understood there would be no math.