Demonstrations, Speeches Against Security Agreement;
PM Faces Split in Own Party
Thousands of Shiites demonstrated on Friday after prayers against the security agreement being imposed on Iraq by the Bush administration. In Sadr City, crowds set fire to the American flag.
Even Iraqi government officials close to Washington are rejecting US demands that troops be allowed to undertake military missions without getting a go-ahead from the Iraqi government.
Helena Cobban blogs the appearance of 2 important Iraqi MPs and party leaders in Washington, DC, in which they rejected the terms of the US-Iraq security agreement or Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). Interestingly, they say they only learned these details from press reporting. If major Iraqi parliamentarians who lead important parties don't know what is going on, then the negotiations are closely held by the Prime Minister's office.
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Da'wa (Islamic Mission) Party has decisively split. It is the party of the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The new branch, Da'wa- National Reform, has been formed by former PM Ibrahim Jaafari, and the local leadership of Islamic Mission political offices in many cities, including in Najaf, has defected to it. Al-Maliki's faction vows to regain control of those offices. Al-Hayat estimated that at least 10 members of parliament have also defected to the new party led by Jaafari.
Those 10 members of Da'wa- National Reform in parliament have joined a new political bloc consisting of the Sadrists (30 MPs), the Iraqi List (24), National Dialogue (11), Islamic Virtue Party (Fadhila) (15). These 90 MPs oppose the soft partition of Iraq and generally have a strong Iraqi nationalist orientation. Several have expressed opposition to the US-Iraqi security agreement now being negotiated.
So, al-Maliki is not only not making a lot of progress in attaining national reconciliation, his own party is collapsing underneath him. It is really quite remarkable that a sitting prime minister should preside over a schism in his own party, despite his control of billions of dollars in patronage.
Apparently, al-Maliki has been maneuvered by the Bush administration into a position where he has virtually no popular or party support, and is left with Washington has his only anchor.
Actually the Islamic Mission Party already had had two main branches in parliament, the Da'wa Islamiya of al-Maliki and the Da'wa- Iraq Organization of Abdul Karim Anizi. The party was originally founded around 1958 and was among the first Muslim fundamentalist parties to strive for an Islamic state, which it finally attained with the Iraqi Constitution of 2005 (it forbids civil legislation that contradicts Islamic canon law.)
Nir Rosen reports from the streets of Baghdad on the realities of the Mahdi Army, the paramilitary of the Sadr Movement.
McClatchy reports political violence on Friday:
' Anbar
- Four gunmen were killed while planting a roadside bomb at Al Nasr Wa Salam area (18 miles west of Baghdad).
- Gunmen opened fire on a policeman at Al Nasr Wa Salam who received a note threatening to kill him from Ansar Al Sunna, a Sunni insurgent group. He was shot twice and his situation is critical.
Kirkuk
- Gunmen kidnapped a colonel of the former Iraqi intelligence during Saddam's regime. He was inside his car at the petrol station in Khadraa neighborhood in downtown Kirkuk city when a BMW car stopped and took him away .
- Gunmen opened fire injured a civilian in Azadi neighborhood in downtown Kirkuk city.
- A roadside bomb targeted an officer's house in Sulaiman Beck town (south of Kirkuk).No casualties reported but small damage with the house.
Diyala
- A roadside bomb targeted a house for the KDP's(Kurdistan Democratic Party) member in Jalwla town (northeast of Baquba).One person was injured .
Salahuddin
- A combined forces from the Iraqi army and police supported by American forces raided Al-Sukariya town(west of Baiji). Abu Abdu Allah Al-Saudi ,a leader of Al-Qaeda organization ,was killed with some weapons confiscated. '
Antiwar.com has more.
Don't miss the recent essays in Tomdispatch.com.
Labels: Iraq
posted by Juan Cole @ 6/07/2008 12:17:00 AM
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12 Comments:
The Da'wa party is composed of three factions, not just two. Moreover, the three have only 20 seats, out of 275 seat parliament, between them. So Maliki is not the PM on the strength of his party. He was elected by the Shi'a Alliance (includes the Hakimists and Sadrists and others) which was the largest bloc in parliament.
The new bloc, if we can call it that, is the 'opposition' as it excludes parties who are in government. Apart from the 90 or so mentioned, they also include the Risallyon (2 seats) and an, as yet unspecified, number of independents. The Sunni bloc is almost certain to split into two (at least) with some joining the government and others joining the opposition. There are also MPs from minorities such as Turkmen and Christians who badly want a national Iraq to protect them. There is also a wild Kurdish card of 5 MPs, out of the 58 total Kurds, who want a strong Iraq.
All in all, the curtains are ready to be drawn on the US occupation era.
"Apparently, al-Maliki has been maneuvered by the Bush administration into a position where he has virtually no popular or party support, and is left with Washington has his only anchor."
If ever there was verification that Maliki is Bush/Cheney's puppet, your statement confirms it. I see this as a growing revolt of explosive dimensions. If Maliki tries to sign a SOFA without Parliamentry or public [referendum] approval, his life won't be worth a dinar.
"Even Iraqi government officials close to Washington"
Yes, sure, only CLOSE. God forbid to call the spade a spade and the imperialism's puppets - just puppets
:)
David Ignatius over at the Washington Post is asserting as fact the unproven allegation that Iran provided rockets to al-Sadr:
"The Iranians had supplied their Mahdi Army allies in Sadr City with very powerful 240mm rockets and mortars, and they had bracketed their targets in the Green Zone so precisely that U.S. casualties were rising sharply. "
The Bush administration has blundered badly, first threatening the Iraqi foreign reserves, and then letting some politician in Israel spout off about attacking Iran. There were reports that Israel has Bush's support for an attack on Iran. Then Obama played right along by giving his speech at AIPAC, which must have astounded even US neo-con's. This leaves Nouri al-Maliki, who increasingly seems to represent the military and professional elite in Iraq, with no choice but to reject the Bush-Obama form of US imperialism toward the Middle East.
The occupation should of course be ended ASAP but I have a question. I have never seen any numbers regarding the number of Iraqis still living there who would be in danger of being killed because of their cooperation with the U.S. Logistically speaking, can we bring them with us when we go? Is anybody thinking that through?
My reading tells me there is very serious disappointment over the speech by Obama to AIPAC, and I am not entirely sure what to make of it but it seems to be a warning of intransigence on policy in the Middle East, especially with regard to Israel and the Palestinians. I am worried.
Were the election this coming week, I could not vote for Obama. I am both too angry over the way in which Clinton was treated and angry over Obama's terrible foreign policy speeches before the Cuban American and AIPAC lobbyists.
Obama has to do better for my vote.
AngryArab blog is excellent, by the way; just excellent. AngryArab is showing just how angry he and many other are with the content of Obama's AIPAC speech.
Re: Afghanistan...
It would appear the Empire is tiring of Afgahn president Karzai since the NYT is reporting on his failures and weakness.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/world/asia/07karzai.html?_r=1&ref=worldspecial&oref=slogin
Perhaps they're setting him up for the Diem treatment?
I particularly like this quote, "...Western diplomats said that Afghan drug lords and warlords had bought the freedom they exercise throughout the country by bribing members of Mr. Karzai’s government..."
One could switch it to say, "...Mr. Karzai’s government has bought the freedom they exercise throughout the country by bribing Afghan drug lords and warlords..."
"Demonstrations, Speeches Against Security Agreement;
PM Faces Split in Own Party"
Wow! That sure sounds a lot like American style democracy. Iraq sure has changed since the removal or the evil authoritarian regime five years ago.
Apparently, al-Maliki has been maneuvered by the Bush administration into a position where he has virtually no popular or party support, and is left with Washington has his only anchor.
Hm. I had a professor in college who called this the Groucho Marx syndrome (as in I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would accept me as a member). His point was that any foreign occupier or member will always gravitate toward the party with the least popular support because that is the one it can most easily control. He also commented that even if a foreign power befriends a party that is originally popular, their mere association will be enout to weaken its legitimacy.
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