IRAQIS BITTERLY DIVIDED OVER OSCAR NOMINATIONS


Sunnis May Sit Out Awards Night, U.S. Fears


The announcement of nominations for the 77th annual Academy Awards have exposed deep divisions within Iraq, with Sunnis and Shiites "bitterly" split over this year's Oscar nods, U.S. officials said today.

The angry reaction to the award nominations, especially among members of Iraqi's minority Sunni population, was seen today as a major setback for the U.S.-led coalition's mission to stabilize that strife-torn nation.

At the State Department, hopes had been high that the announcement of this year's Best Picture nominees would be a unifying event for the Iraqi people, inspiring them to set aside age-old rivalries and hatreds to celebrate the best that Hollywood has to offer.

Some U.S. diplomats were cautiously optimistic, for example, that Martin Scorcese's "The Aviator" could succeed in galvanizing the Iraqi people in a way that Interim Prime minister Iyad Alawi has so far been unable to do.

But after "The Aviator" scooped up 11 nominations, drawing cheers from Shiites across the country, furious Sunnis howled in protest that "Sideways," a Sunni favorite, only picked up six.

In oil-rich Kirkuk, Sunni accountant Adnan Abu Al-Attar, 37, said he had considered hosting an Oscar party before the nominations were announced but was now "so hopping mad" about the potential for an "Aviator" sweep that he would sit on his hands instead come Oscar night.

"As far as most Sunnis are concerned, the Oscars have lost all credibility," he said. "They might as well be the Golden Globes."

Elsewhere, U.S. officials said that exit polls for the I