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Iraqi liberals losing ground to Islamists

Although liberal and civil Iraqi figures have formed a new alliance to compete in upcoming parliamentary elections, they seemed to have garnered little popular support amid an increasingly sectarian atmosphere.
Iraqi Sunni gunmen stand guard as civilians flee their homes, at a checkpoint in the city of Falluja, 50 km (31 miles) west of Baghdad January 8, 2014. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to eradicate al Qaeda in Iraq and predicted victory as his army prepared to launch a major assault against the Sunni Islamist militants who have taken over parts of the city of Falluja. Fighters from the al Qaeda affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is also active across the border in Syria,
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A group of Iraqi youth started to disseminate posts on social networking sites to promote the Civil Democratic Alliance, which comprises Iraqi civil and liberal figures running in the parliamentary elections on April 30. The majority of the alliance’s members advocate the establishment of a civil state, after political Islam took power in Iraq following the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in April 2003.

The Civil Democratic Alliance created a page on Facebook to gather the youth, who make up 40% of Iraqi society. The alliance began to spread its goals and political platforms for the elections.

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