Secular Iraqis, "New Government Is Irrelevant"

These Iraqis aren't the only ones who feel that their institutions of government are irrelevant.

People all over the world are questioning much of what has seemed normal, effective, relevant, etc.

People are coming to distrust their governing, as well as religious institutions.

We don't consider this a bad thing. It seems to us that it is time for such questioning, and not just in Iraq.

Secular Iraqis, "New Government Is Irrelevant":

" San Francisco - Many secular Iraqis have been expressing their displeasure with the new Iraqi government that was sworn-in Saturday and introduced with much fanfare by politicians in Washington, Baghdad, and London this week.

'All Iraqis know this government is totally irrelevant to the realities that they're facing,' said Houzan Mahmoud, the international representative of the left-wing Iraqi Freedom Congress, an umbrella organization of workers' and women's groups that opposes both the U.S.-led occupation and Islamist control of Iraq.

'It's a government of rightist militias who are terrorizing people on the ground,' she added, noting the government is dominated by the same religious, Shi'ite, political parties that have been in power since 2005.

Since then, representatives of those parties' militias have been taking to the streets beating up religious minorities and people who sell alcohol while forcing women to cover their heads.

'These are militias representing groups based on religious sects and ethnic backgrounds, just engaged in trying to increase their own power,' Mahmoud said.

Iraqi politicians say the new government will be able to deliver greater sovereignty and security for the people of Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that Iraq could take over security in most of the country within 18 months.

'There is already an agreement, and a plan has been submitted to hand over security issues in every Iraqi city,' Maliki told reporters in Baghdad Monday. 'The process will be started in June with the handover of the southern provinces of Samawa and Amara.' "