From Missing Links
"There was a brief reference to the Central Council of the Arab Tribes of Iraq in Al-Hayat last week (referred to in this post), where the point was that one of the sources of GreenZone anxiety about the "awakenings" is the fact that they might serve as a vehicle, or an occasion, for the mobilization of pan-Iraqi nationalism, with anti-occupation implications. This has been overlooked in the Western accounts of the whole awakening phenomenon, which talk about GreenZone (and US military) anxiety about the awakenings only in its other form, which is--you guessed it!--the sectarian "Sunni versus Shiia" perspective. The more things change (in Iraq), the more they stay the same (in the Western accounts).
Today Al-Hayat reports on another meeting of this tribal council, this one held in Damascus.....
Finally, the journalist explains what this declaration has to say specifically about the awakenings:
[The declaration said] the tribal leaders can appreciate some of the motives that caused the creation of some of these Awakening Councils in Iraq, [but] they affirm that these councils are not acceptable when the intent is to strike against the national project in Iraq and cooperation with the occupier against the national people, while at the same time affirming [that the tribal leaders should] encourage their people to preserve security in their areas and deter oppression and attacks on the people [no doubt referring to takfiiri excesses].
In other words, let's channel tribal mobilization in the right direction!"
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