Muqtada al-Sadr, Shia leader, supports Sunni protests against PM al-Maliki in Iraq

The popular Shiite Iraqi leader, Muqtada al-Sadr has thrown his support behind Sunni protesters against Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Sadr said that Maliki must bear full responsibility for the unrest in Iraq. Maliki has made a number of moves to centralise power. His actions have enraged many Sunnis and also officials in the Kurdish autonomous area in northern Iraq. Iraq's vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, a prominent Sunni politician was charged with various offenses including running death squads, convicted of murder in September, and sentenced to death in absentia. Al-Hashimi took refuge in Turkey. Sunnis say that Maliki is constantly sidelining them. During the rule of Saddam Hussein, Sunnis were dominant in the government. More recently Maliki raided the office and home of the Iraqi finance minister, Rafie al-Issawi, another prominent Sunni politician. Issawi claims that 150 of his guards and employees were arrested in the raids. These actions have sparked huge protests by Sunnis in which they have blocked off main routes to Jordan and Syria from Baghdad. No doubt al-Sadr's move has been in part calculated to improve prospects for his party and himself in upcoming elections. Al-Sadr spoke in Najaf, one of the holiest cities of the Shiite sect. In spite of many of his own followers being persecuted by Sunnis during Hussein's reign and his close connections with Iran, Al-Sadr is an Iraqi nationalist who fears the expanding conflict between Sunnis and Shia sects. Maliki's actions fuel this division. While Al-Sadr has always been fiercely anti-American, at the same time, he has always tried to foster unity among Iraqis. Al-Sadr tried to set the Sunni protests in a wider context saying:

“The Iraqi spring is coming. We are with the demonstrators, and Parliament must be with them, not against them,” he said. “The legitimate demands of the demonstrators, by which people know what they want, should be met.”

Al Sadr even expressed his willingness to go to Anbar, the Sunni-dominated province, to join in demonstrations. Maliki warned protesters that he might lose patience with the demonstrations:

"I say to those who follow these agendas: Don't think it's difficult for the government to take measures against you or to re-open the road and put an end to this matter. We have been very patient with you, but don't expect this issue to be open-ended."

Violence has increased in Iraq in 2012 and Al Qaeda appears to be making a come-back. Iraq Body Count put the civilian death toll in 2012 at 4,471 and this does not include the final two weeks of the year. Last year the toll was 4,136.

Crackdown on media continues in Iraq

According to an article here Iraqi police are being ordered to shut down both foreign and local media throughout Iraq. Among the targets are such prominent outlets as Voice of America and the BBC television channels.

The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory claims to have an official document that orders the closing of 44 different outlets in all. The document is said to be issued by the Communications and Media Commission (CMC).The document calls on the Department of Relations and Media “to stop media cooperation with these agencies and to notify the police to ban these channels along with the necessity of informing the channels to contact the CMC.” However the validity of the document still needs to be verified according to Russia Today. But there are other reports of the crackdown such as this which came out later. These moves are just the latest moves in attempts to muzzle the press in Iraq.

Al Sadr followers protested in Baghdad's central square against the crackdown on press freedom. They also demanded a no confidence vote in the Al Maliki government. Al Maliki is at present the head of the CMC..For more see this article.

Iraq: Opposition plans no confidence vote against Prime Minister al-Maliki

Opposition is increasing against the attempts by Prime Minister Maliki to concentrate power and prevent any Sunni opposition. His most dramatic step has been to order the arrest of Vice President al Hashemi a Sunni on charges of supervising a death squad. Opponents say that the move is political and that Maliki is trying to monopolize power.

Dia al-Asadi who leads the al Sadr Ahrar bloc in parliament claims that his bloc is leading the fight for a no confidence vote against al-Maliki even though the bloc is part of a coalition with Maliki.

Al-Asadi said:"Our main concern is that Maliki doesn't have a plan to administer the country. And if he has, then we want to know about it "If he hasn't, then there's a big problem because we are living in a country that needs comprehensive, fast and integrated development."

The Al Sadr bloc was aligned with the government as a way of ensuring the U.S. withdrew from Iraq. Although Al Sadr's group is Shia and has close relations with Iran he often takes a nationalist stance and has reached out to Sunnis to form a unified Iraq. Al Maliki on the other hand seems to be creating a situation with more sectarian violence. For more see this article.

Opposition fails to gain votes to unseat Iraqi Prime Minister

The political crisis in Iraq will continue. Nouri Al Maliki the prime minister has faced growing opposition from Kurdish and Sunni parties. However, he also faces opposition within Shia groups as well particularly from the Al Sadr group. The opposition seems united in finding that Al Maliki is consolidating power and shutting out any opposition.

However the president Jalal Talabani a Kurd supports the prime minister. In turn both have the support of Iran and perhaps surprisingly the U.S as well. No doubt both feel that at least Al Maliki provides a degree of stability in the country. Opponents say that they will continue their struggle to unseat al-Maliki in spite of their setback. There are questions about Talabani's counting of the vote that fell short of the mark.

Opponents say that they sent Talabani a letter that had pledges from 176 representatives in the 325 member parliament saying they would vote for the recall of al-Maliki. This was 12 more than needed for a majority. When Talabani reported back he said there were only 160 valid signatures and that 13 of the signers had told him that they were withdrawing or suspending their signatures. One wonders what prompted the representatives to change their mind; also, the numbers add up only to 173 not 176. This sort of thing seems symptomatic of the state of Iraqi politics.

Meanwhile sectarian attacks continue in Iraq with Al Qaeda seeming to make a comeback. For more see this article.

Iraq restricts press freedoms further

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been continuously centralizing control in Iraq and moving against some of his rivals. However, he is also moving against any media criticism of his regime.

A report from the Journalism Freedoms Observatory claims that there are more restrictions being placed on journalists. Also journalists are often arbitrarily arrested and often attacked by security forces when they try to cover events.

The report says:“Security forces deal with a journalist holding a camera in the same way it deals with those they find possessing car bombs or unlicensed weapons,” As well the government is promoting a new law that would mete out harsh penalties for distributing news that would be “against the public interests”. Journalists could be barred from accessing the Internet without a permit from the military.

The Deputy Interior Minister has said that media freedom is a "threat to national security". NOTE:: I expect he phrased it a bit differently but perhaps not. The minister even warned that journalists who publish news about government killings or arrests without government approval will be punished. For more see this article.

Qatar refuses to return Iraqi vice-president to Iraq to face charges

Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi arrived in Qatar from the KRG the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq. He fled to the area in December after the Maliki government issued a warrant for his arrest on charges that he was involved with death squads that targeted Shias.

The Maliki government asked Qatar to send Hashemi back to Iraq to face the charges. The Qatari minister for foreign affairs said:"Diplomatic norms and the post of Hashemi prevent Qatar from doing such a thing," "Mr Hashemi came in his capacity as a vice president and he continues to occupy this post, and has not been sentenced or stripped of his title," Given that Hashemi is accused of running death squads it is rather strange that the Maliki government has not yet stripped him of his vice-presidency! An Iraqi official said that the Qatari decision to host Hashemi was unacceptable.

Hashemi himself disputed Baghdad's position. Hashemi said that he enjoys constitutional immunity and has not been convicted of anything as yet. The same claim of immunity was used by Kurdistan authorities when they refused to turn Hashemi over to Baghdad.

Hashemi has denied his guilt and complains that the charges are politically motivated. Certainly the charges increase the tension between Shia and Sunni groups since the targets of the alleged Hashemi death squads were Shia. Critics complain that Maliki is trying to consolidate his power.

The Maliki government is not only facing resistance from Kurdistan over its moves but now relations with Qatar have gone sour as well. Kurdistan has stopped all exports of oil over a feud with Baghdad over division of oil revenues and contracts signed by Kurdistan with foreign oil companies. For much more see this article.

Iraq: All U.S. troops have left. Or have they?

  Some will remain in fact up to 2,700 if Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki is to be believed. Seven hundred troops will remain in Iraq as trainers. Earlier reports said that the U.S. would not agree with Maliki's terms for troops to remain as trainers. Maliki insisted that the troops be subject to Iraqi law. It is highly unlikely that the U.S. agreed to that. Maliki made no mention of that issue in his statement.
     As well as the trainers there will be up to 2,000 troops used to provide security for the U.S. embassy. The embassy will also have 1500 diplomats with diplomatic immunity as well as 15,000 other employees at the Embassy.
     No doubt many of these other employees will be private security contractors to provide security for diplomatic staff as well.  The cost of the U.S. continuing  presence in Iraq will still be large and a burden on the U.S. taxpayer. For more see this article.
   Maliki is in great difficulty politically in Iraq. Already his coalition government is falling into pieces. The opposition will no doubt protest  if it turns out that U.S. troops stay in Iraq with continued immunity from the application of Iraqi law.

Iraq: Isolation of Sunni politicians may result in renewed insurgency

The Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki seems determined to provoke Sunni politicians. His move to arrest his own vice-president Tareq Hashemi has led one of his main coalition partners the Iraqiya bloc to leave the government. Al-Maliki has rejected the idea of reconciling with them.

The Kurdish bloc has also withdrawn from parliament in protest against the arrest warrant issued for the vice-president. The Kurdish area has the only significant armed forces not within the control of Al-Maliki. The leader of Iraqiya Ayad Allawi has compared Maliki's actions to those of Saddam Hussein who often arrested people on claims they were terrorists. Maliki says that Hashemi's bodyguards have confessed to being involved in terrorist acts and Maliki also claims that Hashemi was plotting to kill him. Hashemi has taken refuge in Kurdistan in the north of Iraq and has said that he will only agree to being tried there not in the capital Baghdad.

Since Maliki has lost his majority he should be only interim prime minister at most until another coalition majority is formed. If a coalition with a majority could not be formed then new elections should be called. However, Maliki has given no indication he will relinquish power. Maliki apparently controls the army and national police.

Iraqiya in co-operation with the Kurds may try to form a majority coalition but even if it does, getting rid of Maliki might be difficult. The level of violence is increasing with 60 people killed in a recent explosion. Isolating the Sunnis may drive them underground and create a renewed insurgency and the conflict with Kurdistan may lead it to declare complete independence if issues cannot be worked out.

Iraq: Tension rises between Prime Minister Maliki and Sunni politicians

The prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused his own Sunni vice-president Tareq al-Hashemi of plotting to assassinate him. He claims that al-Hashemi paid his own bodyguards to commit terrorist attacks and that they have confessed to these acts. An order has been made for al-Hashemi's arrest.

 Al-Hashemi has taken refuge in Kurdistan in northern Iraq. He says that he will only stand trial there not in Baghdad. Al-Maliki has been harassing other Sunni politicians as well. Al-Hashemi claims the charges against him are politically motivated. Massoud Barzani the president of the Kurdistan regional government has called on Iraqi politicians to hold a summit meeting to discuss al-Maliki''s recent moves against Sunni politicians.

The arrest warrant is viewed with great suspicion by many politicians including Barzani who has for years often disagreed with al-Maliki. Even the Iraqi president Talabani was critical of the warrant together with the speaker of parliament. Violence is increasing as the sectarian tensions rise as well.

The U.S. is watching events with concern as all U.S. troops are now out of the country. Some Republicans have been critical of Obama for withdrawing all U.S. troops. However, the agreement for keeping forces in Iraq expires the end of this year and the Iraqi government refused to allow any troops to stay at least without being subject to Iraqi law. Apparently, the Republicans must think that the U.S. could just stay anyway! For more see this article and also here.

al Maliki ready to oust the U.S. from the green zone

One benefit of turning over the green zone to the Iraqis is that it will probably result in a test of the building skills of those who built the security walls and blast proof buildings within the U.S. embassy. Insurgents will be able to get closer to the embassy and test its defences. The U.S. will just have to withdraw to its bases and the embassy and leave the rest of the green zone to the Iraqis. The embassy will still be a little America within Baghdad paid for by American citizens who are losing their houses back in the good old U.S.A. Of course it remains to be seen how much Maliki's pronouncement is bluster meant to show he is not a puppet rather than an actual policy he is going to implement soon. He is a politician preparing for fall elections.


July 13, 2008Nouri al-Maliki ready to oust US from Iraq green zoneMarie Colvin in BaghdadThe green zone of Baghdad, a highly fortified slice of American suburbia on the banks of the Tigris river, may soon be handed over to Iraqi control if the increasingly assertive government of Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, gets its way.A senior Iraqi government official said this weekend the enclave should revert to Iraqi control by the end of the year. “We think that by the end of 2008 all the zones in Baghdad should be integrated into the city,” said Ali Dabbagh, the government’s spokesman.“The American soldiers should be based in agreed camps outside the cities and population areas.“By the end of the year, there will be no green zone,” he added. “The separation by huge walls makes people feel angry.” Dabbagh acknowledged that getting rid of the green zone would be a huge undertaking, given the thousands of American soldiers, private contractors and foreign workers who live inside. He said the concrete walls that divide it from the rest of the city would be taken down slowly, “depending on the threat and circumstances”.The prospect may prove disconcerting for the Americans, who have just begun to transfer their diplomatic operations in the zone from Saddam Hussein’s Republican Palace to a new embassy, the largest and most expensive in the world.The £300m building, at the heart of the green zone, protected by blast walls and layers of barbed wire, is the size of the Vatican City. It is virtually a self-contained town, with a heli-pad, sewerage and water treatment plants, a telephone exchange with a Virginia dialling code, a swimming pool and a bombproof gym. It will contain 619 blast-resistant flats.Under the Baghdad government’s plan the embassy will remain but the Iraqis will take back the five-square-mile secure “bubble” surrounding it.The green zone, which was built after the US-led invasion in 2003 as a safe administrative hub, has long infuriated Iraqis. It sliced off neighbouring districts from one another.Mortars fall in the area but the kidnappings, car bombs and lack of water and electricity in the rest of the country seem remote to its inhabitants. Many American visitors never leave except to fly by helicopter to Baghdad airport.The call for the “liberation” of the zone reflects Maliki’s growing confidence after military victories that have prompted him to declare that terrorism has been defeated.

Iraqi PM al-Maliki handing out cash to people in the streets.

This is a quite direct way of getting votes and giving immediate benefits to those who vote for you! These handouts are led by a belief that better conditions will lead to more security according to the article. I would think that they are meant to get people to support the government to buy them off rather than create better conditions in other ways! Maybe the Iraqis got the idea from George Bush who gave handouts to get the economy going!

Iraq PM al-Maliki Handing Out Cash To People In The Streets
Posted on July 12, 2008, Printed on July 12, 2008http://www.alternet.org/wire/91294/
BAGHDAD — It is a politician's dream: Handing out cold, hard cash to people on the street as they plead for help. Iraq's prime minister has been doing just that in recent weeks, doling out Iraqi dinars as an aide trails behind, keeping a tally.
The handouts by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and a handful of other top officials are authorized _ as long as each goes no higher than about $8,000, and the same people don't get them twice. Aides say they are meant merely to ease the pain a bit, and are motivated by a belief that better conditions will lead to more security.
The cash handouts are just one small _ if eye-catching _ part of a major investment push this summer by Iraq's government. The aim is to rebuild basic services and jumpstart Iraq's damaged economy by quickly distributing as much of the country's glut of oil revenue as possible.
U.S. officials and a fed-up American public are urging exactly that _ for Iraq to spend its own money, not America's, to rebuild the country now that violence has eased.
Yet the new Iraqi effort runs a high risk of failure: The government is disorganized, fears of favoritism remain and the shadow of corruption haunts every step.
"Money is not a problem," al-Maliki told a recent gathering of tribal chiefs in the southern city of Basra, after government forces had defeated Shiite extremists there. "But we must put it in honest hands to spend."
Despite such problems, Iraq's oil revenues, an estimated $70 billion this year, still provide the best chance of leveraging the country's fragile period of calm into something more lasting, many officials say.
Top U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus has repeatedly called money a crucial weapon to lure neighborhoods from extremists and stabilize Iraq. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, urged the government to pass out money even faster this week on a trip to devastated Mosul in the north.
The United States has been doling out cash itself, most effectively to former Sunni militants who switched sides to fight al-Qaida. The military has also provided money and assistance to projects like fixing damaged roads in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City after battles there.
Yet most recent big spending announcements have been Iraqi: $100 million to rebuild Sadr City; another $100 million to the Shiite city of Basra after fighting there; $100 million for another southern Shiite town, Amarah; and $83 million to help internal refugees return home.
It's unclear how fast the project money will actually get out. Past U.S. surveys have found Iraqi officials actually spent only tiny portions of the money they had allocated, often because of disorganization in government offices or a lack of technical know-how.
Also, discrepancies feed fears of favoritism. One violence-battered and needy northern province, Ninevah, which is mostly Sunni and Kurdish, has received only 20 percent of what the central government has promised, U.S. officials said this week.
Many of the provinces where al-Maliki, a Shiite, has recently pledged money are Shiite.
Yet there are signs of small improvement, other officials say. First Lt. Paul Horton, an assistant civil military operations officer in Diyala, a mixed area north of Baghdad, sees it in efforts to get government money to local farmers suffering from drought.
"We're starting to get a lot more attention and a lot more love," he said.
As for al-Maliki, Arab leaders have long used personal handouts to also gain political loyalty.
Most of the grants the prime minister gives out are only $200 to $400 to help those needing medical care, widows or people without jobs. On one recent visit to the riverside Abu Nawas park in Baghdad, he gave a group of boys each the equivalent of $40 in dinars to buy soccer balls. The biggest grants require documentation like letters from a hospital, his aides say.
On a trip last month to Amarah, an Associated Press reporter saw the prime minister approached by several supplicants during a meeting he was chairing of tribal sheiks. An aide from al-Maliki's office handed out cash at his direction, making each beneficiary sign a receipt.
Asked the reason for such handouts, a senior adviser to the prime minister, Sadiq al-Rikabi, said: "Citizens must realize that security is not just making the law prevail ... Reconstruction and jobs are a big part of it."
___
Associated Press writers Hamza Hendawi and Robert Burns contributed to this report from Baghdad.