Iraq:
Government Fragments Further
By
Ali al-Fadhily
03 December,
2007
Inter
Press Service
BAGHDAD,
Dec 2 (IPS) - As sectarian tensions escalate politically, a
new fissure is appearing within the already fragmented Iraqi government.
Adnan Al
Dulaimi, head of the Sunni political bloc the Accordance Front in the
Iraqi Parliament, has been placed under house arrest by Iraqi and U.S.
security forces in the Adil neighbourhood west of Baghdad.
Iraqi security
forces also detained his son --Makki -- and 45 of his guards. They were
accused of manufacturing car bombs and killing Sunni militia members
in the neighbourhood who have been working with the U.S. military.
"Two
car bombs were found at Dulaimi’s office area ready to be blasted
and we believe they were going to be used against the Awakening Forces
[men the U.S. military is paying to work with them] in the Adil Quarter,"
Kassim Ata, spokesman for the Baghdad Crackdown Force -- which is part
of the Awakening Forces -- told IPS. "Dulaimi’s office guards
testified against his house guards and so we arrested all of them as
well as Al Dulaimy’s son Makki," Ata said.
Abdul Karim
al-Samarraie of the Accordance Front told reporters that the group would
not return to parliament until Dulaimi was allowed to leave his home.
On Saturday al-Samarraie stated, "When I went to meet him I was
stopped and told that he is under house arrest. This is a violation
of the rights of an MP who wants to come to the parliament."
The Accordance
Front warned that the crackdown against them could derail Iraq’s
already struggling political process, and the Front said in a statement
before walking out of parliament, "It will increase political tension
at a time when Baghdad is relatively peaceful."
"Al-Dulaimi
is a terrorist just like other Sunnis who pretended to be participating
in politics and peaceful efforts of reconciliation," Haydar Kathum,
a follower of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) -- a Shia political
and religious group led by Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim -- told IPS in the Karrada
area of Baghdad. "Sunnis are all terrorists, but they pushed some
of their leaders to the parliament so that they can fight the new Iraq
project from the inside."
Similar accusations
toward members of the Sunni political group -- which holds 44 seats
of the 275 seats in parliament -- were heard throughout 2007 from Shi’ite
groups in the Iraqi Parliament, especially the Shi’ite Coalition
led by the SIIC and the Dawa Party, led by Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki.
"This
man [Al-Dulaimi] should be held responsible for the terrorist acts that
he conducted without any consideration for the possible political consequences,"
Jalal Al-Sagheer, one of the Shi’ite leaders of SIIC in Baghdad
told IPS.
But, "what
happened in the Adil neighbourhood must be dealt with away from politics,"
Al-Sagheer stressed.
Al-Sagheer
also referred to the new SIIC’s policy to eliminate yesterday’s
allies as they are no longer necessary given the completion of sectarian
cleansing of Baghdad and other mixed areas of Iraq.
The other
side of the story comes from Dulaimy’s supporters.
"Doctor
Adnan Al-Dulaimi is a well known academic in Iraq and the whole Islamic
world," his nephew Laurance Al-Dulaimi told IPS, "He worked
hard to establish peace in Iraq and he exposed himself to threats by
al-Qaeda by joining the political operation in Iraq."
"It
is unfair that he is rewarded with such cheap accusations by those cheap
corrupt officials and politicians," the nephew added.
Dulaimi has
been targeted many times by Iraqi resistance fighters, but they failed
to assassinate him. He has insisted upon keeping his house and office
in the Sunni neighbourhood that was controlled by resistance fighters
rather than moving to the Green Zone where he would have had better
protection.
Sunni observers
talked to IPS about the arrests, and expressed other opinions.
"This
man was one of the reasons that the Shi’ite Coalition controlled
the situation in Iraq the way they do now and he deserves what is happening
to him," Omar Mahmood, a lawyer who is close to the Iraqi Association
of Muslim Scholars led by Harith Al Dhari, told IPS in Baghdad, "He
drew Sunnis to be cheap cover for the faked political operation that
helped American occupation have routes in Sunni areas."
An Iraqi
resistance fighter spoke with IPS on condition of anonymity.
"The
poor old guy sacrificed his faith and reputation for a cheap chair in
the parliament and now they are throwing him into the garbage can like
used Kleenex tissue," the man told IPS in Baghdad, "We always
advised him that the Islamic Party and the Shi’ite Coalition would
definitely get rid of him as soon as he is no more needed, but he listened
to his pocket more than listening to the voice of reason."
Maliki has
ordered the fifth brigade of the Iraqi Army to "guard" Al-Dulaimy’s
house.
"My
father is detained in our house and my brother Makki is being tortured
so that he gives any information that could lead to convicting my father,"
one of Al-Dulaimi’s several sons, speaking on condition of anonymity,
told IPS, "My father’s life is threatened and so is my brother’s
life and the other guards. These army people hate us and they might
do anything. We find Maliki and the Americans responsible for anything
that might happen to our father."
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