Iran
Ties Weaken Government Further
By Ali al-Fadhily
14 July, 2007
Inter Press Service
BAGHDAD, Aug 13 (IPS)
- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's increasing ties with Iran have
triggered a splintering of his government.
Several groups, both Sunni
and Shia, have followed the Sunni al-Tawafuq bloc (Iraqi Accord Front)
in quitting the U.S.-backed government. But Maliki refuses to make the
concessions necessary to bring his "unity" government back
together.
Spokesman Iyad Jamaliddin
said on behalf of the Iraqi National List led by former interim prime
minister Iyad Allawi that the ministers of his group would now boycott
government meetings. The party claims both Shia and Sunni following.
"We will inform the
President, his deputies and the Prime Minister of the essential happenings
and needs (of Iraqis) when necessary," Jamaliddin told IPS in Baghdad.
This means that the entire
Sunni bloc has refused to deal with Maliki. The al-Tawafuq bloc has
44 seats in the 275-seat National Assembly, and Allawi's group 25. Their
decision cannot unsettle the ruling Shia-dominated United Iraqi Alliance
that has 128 seats and rules with the support of some small groups,
but it would further deny the government legitimacy in the face of widespread
perceptions that the government follows sectarian policies in support
of Shias.
Maliki is under growing pressure
over policies seen to be in line with what the government of Shia-dominated
Iran wants. Following Maliki's visit to Tehran last week, U.S. President
George Bush sternly warned him against coming too close to Iran.
Bush said that after the
visit, "if the signal is that Iran is constructive, I will have
to have a heart to heart with my friend, the Prime Minister, because
I don't believe they are constructive."
Bush added, "My message
to him is, when we catch you playing a non-constructive role, there
will be a price to pay."
On his visit Aug. 8, Maliki
thanked Iran for its "positive and constructive" work in "providing
security and fighting terrorism in Iraq." Iran in turn offered
Maliki its full support for restoring security, but told him that a
pullout of U.S. forces was the only way to end the ongoing violence.
But Maliki's government has
continued to lose support within Iraq. Now Kurdish members of Maliki's
government are also condemning his ailing leadership. Mahmood Othman,
a Kurdish member of the Assembly, has said that the situation is "too
bad to be left as it is" and that something must change.
"I do not represent
the whole Kurdish bloc, but as an MP who represents himself and those
who voted for him, I say this government is suffering a great deal of
problems with everyone, including Kurds," Othman told IPS in Baghdad.
"It failed to find solutions to many Kurdish affairs like article
140 of the constitution concerning Kirkuk, the oil law and many other
things."
Maliki's visited Iran on
the date on which former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein declared victory
in his war with Iran.
"If the visit were meant
to be on that date intentionally, then it would be a terrible mistake
by Maliki," Nadim al-Jaburi, general secretary of the Shia al-Fadhila
Party that was part of the ruling coalition until its withdrawal from
the government in March told IPS. "I am sure Iranians would not
have visited Iraq on that date. If it was coincidence, then it only
shows how inconsiderate Maliki is about our country."
Others too had misgivings
about Maliki's visit to Tehran. "Maliki is Iranian and he went
there to show his solidarity with his own people," Majid Hamid,
a lawyer from Baghdad told IPS. "He has no self-respect and no
consideration for the history of his country that was once at war with
Iran."
Maliki is secretary-general
of the Dawa Party, and spent time in exile in Iran after leading insurgent
groups against Saddam Hussein.
"It is a last attempt
to get support from his masters in Iran," Abdul-Hussien Ali, a
teacher from the predominantly Shia district of Kadhimiya in northern
Baghdad told IPS. "Iran killed nearly a million Iraqis in that
war, and now our so-called Prime Minister is supporting them on the
very day they officially lost the war."
Many Iraqis ask why Bush
continues to support the failing Prime Minister. "Why is that Bush
so fond of this finished government," said Yassin Jassim, a shopkeeper
in Baghdad. "The government is finished by failing to provide us
with security and all other daily essential needs. This means that Bush
has also failed."
(Ali, our correspondent in
Baghdad, works in close collaboration with Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based
specialist writer on Iraq who travels extensively in the region)
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