Iraq More Divided Than Ever

Iraq More Divided Than Ever


Iraqi Sunni Muslims wave the old flags of Iraq during an anti-government demonstration in Falluja, 50 km (31 miles) west of Baghdad, May 3, 2013. Tens of thousands of Sunni Muslims poured onto the streets of Ramadi and Falluja in the western province of Anbar. (photo by Mohanned Faisal)

By: Hussein Ali Daoud Translated from Al-Hayat (Pan Arab).

اقرا المقال الأصلي باللغة العربية

According to leaders of the Ramadi protests, the movement against Nouri al-Maliki’s government will only end in one of two ways: the formation of an independent province or armed confrontation. In the meantime, the city was the scene of fire fights between gunmen and security forces throughout the past two days.


Additionally, the National Dialogue Front, headed by Saleh al-Mutlaq, threatened to question Maliki in his capacity as supreme commander of the armed forces if the leaders of the security agencies did not attend the emergency meeting called for by the speaker of parliament tomorrow. The crisis only grew in complexity when prominent cleric Abdul Malek al-Saadi withdrew his initiative for dialogue with the government.

Furthermore, Saadi, the source of inspiration for most demonstrators, announced through his office yesterday [May 19] that “when he agreed to proposing a [goodwill] initiative for dialogue with the government, he did so knowing that the government would not acquiesce to our rights, as evidenced by its dealings with the Iraqi people for the past 10 years.”
The statement further clarified that the purpose behind Saadi’s initiative was “to clear ourselves before God and the people, and prove the good intentions of demonstrators who only wanted to restore their rights, safeguard Iraqi lives, unify the people, and attain their rights, if the government proved to be serious in its dealing with them. We wanted to do away with the government’s excuse of not agreeing to our demands because it had no one to negotiate with; and to demonstrate its lack of seriousness in the matter, as well as absolve ourselves from blame if the demonstrators decided to espouse options whose consequences would be dire for all Iraqis. The first negative reaction by the government was its failure to officially and clearly respond to the initiative, its failure to expeditiously form a committee … and its objection that dialogue be held at the Al-Askari shrines.”

The statement added “as a result, Saadi considered those actions a rejection of the initiative. But the initiative’s goals were thus achieved; and as such, he announced his abandonment of it in order to protest the crimes perpetrated against our wounded people through the latest bombings that rocked Baghdad and other cities.”
On another hand, representatives of the demonstrators in Anbar, Mosul, Saladin, Diyala and South Kirkuk announced, after a meeting held the night before last [May 18] that “the Sunnis have no other recourse in Iraq except armed confrontation and the formation of independent provinces.”


Their statement further went on to say “the committees commend the [goodwill] initiative proposed by Saadi, which the government replied to by rejecting the place for negotiations, committing war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and genocide; as evidenced by the Diyala massacre last Friday, as well as those perpetrated in Baghdad’s Sunni neighborhoods, and in Hawija previously, in addition to the targeting of mosque worshipers. The popular committees consider this initiative to have been rejected by the government, and that Iraqi Sunnis have but two options open to them: Armed confrontation, or the establishment of independent provinces.” The statement further requested that “Iraqi [religious] scholars, politicians, tribal leaders and academics, both at home and abroad, state their position regarding those two options within five days, otherwise their silence would be construed as them accepting whatever decision is taken by the committees.”

But some members of the coordinating committees in anti-government Anbar Province confirmed the presence of divisions between demonstrators about the formation of independent provinces. Sheikh Mohammed al-Bijari, who is a member of the Fallujah Clan Council, told Al-Hayat yesterday [May 19] that “news about the end of demonstrations in Anbar is baseless.” He also denied knowledge about other demonstrations springing up but affirmed that contacts were ongoing with organizers of the Samarra, Ramadi and Mosul demonstrations.

Bijari added that “the problem faced by anti-government demonstrators was a disagreement relating to the establishment of independent provinces, as demanded by some demonstration leaders and rejected by others.” He pointed out that “this issue prevented, in past months, the formation of a unified committee comprised of official representatives from rebellious provinces. Furthermore, the lack of a unified committee in the five provinces had negative repercussions on their demands, which were met with stonewalling and delays.”

Abdel Hamid al-Ani, one of the activists participating in the Ramadi demonstrations, told Al-Hayat yesterday that “demonstrators were split on the idea of forming an independent Sunni province.” He affirmed that this issue “was a main point of contention between demonstration leaders.”

He noted that some of the province’s political factions, such as the Islamic Party, promoted this idea, “but independent religious demonstration leaders rejected this avenue.” He added that “attempts to form unified coordinating committees comprised of demonstrator representatives from Anbar and the remaining provinces, faced difficulties due to disagreements about the discourse to be adopted and the establishment of independent provinces.”
On another hand, the Sadrist Movement blamed Maliki for the deteriorating security situation in the country, and revealed that there are around 4,000 Interior Ministry officers implicated by the Accountability and Justice Law; among them high ranking officers of the security forces.

Haidar al-Mulla, a leader of the National Dialogue Front said in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Al-Hayat, that “Parliament must hold security commanders accountable after the Hawija massacre and the bloody explosions that rocked Diyala, Baghdad and other provinces.”

Mulla welcomed holding the extra session called for by the speaker of parliament in order to listen to Maliki, the defense minister, and the ground forces commander, and discuss with them the “failure of managing the security situation.” He pointed out that if the security commanders failed to appear, "then we will ask that Maliki be questioned as a prelude to a lack of confidence vote in his government.”

He said, “The status quo and continued shedding of Iraqi blood, without the immediate commander in charge of security being held accountable, will strip Parliament of its legitimacy, deprive it of its oversight role and transform it into a pulpit for ineffective speeches.”

Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Ahrar parliamentary bloc held Maliki “responsible for the deteriorating security situation in the country.” MP Ikbal al-Ghourabi said in a statement of which Al-Hayat received a copy that “there are 3,600 Interior Ministry officers, some of whom holding high ranking positions, who were implicated by the Accountability and Justice Law, but against whom no action was taken.” She noted that “the presence of Baath party officers at key posts in the Interior and Defense Ministries, serves to worsen the security situation. She affirmed that “it is worrisome to contemplate a security void occurring as a result of these two institutions being run by interim acting ministers.”


Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/05/iraq-protests-saadi-initiative-divided.html#ixzz2UtNxdtjT