The Two Faces Of Iraq
By Sami Moubayed
07 October, 2006
Asia Times OnlineDAMASCUS - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has a remarkable nerve. In July, she went to Israel in the midst of a Lebanon war in which thousands of civilians were being killed and insisted on not calling for a ceasefire until a final solution to Hezbollah was reached between Israel and Lebanon.
This week, she makes a surprise visit to Baghdad to show support for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the man responsible for much of the violence and sectarian killing taking place in Iraq. Speaking at her press conference with Maliki, she said: "This is an important time and a challenge for the Iraqi people, but they are a strong people, they are committed people, and we know that they will overcome these challenges." She added: "I think he is a very good and strong prime minister."
Surely Rice should have know that the previous seven days had been horrendous for Iraq and that in September a total of 2,667 people were violently killed, while another 2,994 were injured. The only logical and blameworthy person for all this madness is the man leading the country, whose duty as prime minister is to bring security to his citizens.
The last thing they need are the confronting words of the US secretary of state, who seems to care little for the number of Iraqis dying per day, and the ineffective US military in the country, which is unable to end the raging insurgency.
The week prior to Rice's visit marked the highest death toll since the Iraqi war started in March 2003. On Wednesday, four US soldiers were killed southwest of Baghdad, bringing the total number of US troops killed over the previous seven days to 14. Officially, this brings the number of US troops killed in Iraq since March 2003 to 2,729. Most in the Arab world, and particularly in Iraq, estimate a much higher number.
One wonders where Maliki's security plan stands, since he promised to make safety a priority on his agenda in May. A smarter question would be: Why are the Americans still supportive of this failed premier? His security plan has catapulted 15,000 US troops into a hands-on presence on the streets of Iraq, backed by 40,000 Iraqi soldiers.
According to a US statement, they have "cleared approximately 95,000 buildings, 80 mosques and 60 muhallas [small administrative districts], detained more than 125 terrorist suspects, seized more than 1,700 weapons, registered more than 750 weapons and found 35 weapons caches. The combined forces have also removed more than 196,921 cubic meters of trash from the streets of Baghdad."
All the same, the rising death toll shows that Maliki's security plan has failed. According to the Ministry of Displacement and Migration, a quarter of a million Iraqis have been displaced, because of deteriorating security conditions and rising sectarian violence, since February. Between July and August, about 80,000 Iraqis were registered with the ministry as refugees and 40,000 families applied for government aid.
This number, naturally, might be much higher, since many Iraqis have fled the country altogether and not registered with the ministry. Many have gone to neighboring Iran, Syria or Kurdistan. According to the International Organization for Migration, nearly 9,000 Iraqis flee their homes every week.
Elsewhere in Iraq, an entire Iraqi brigade, with 1,200 police officers, has been suspended because of suspected connections to the mass kidnapping of 26 workers last Sunday. Six of the workers were later found dead.
Also prior to Rice's visit were heightened rumors in Iraq and the international media that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the new leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, had been killed. Had this been true, it would have been a great bonus to Maliki, who celebrated the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarkawi, Masri's predecessor, in June shortly after he had come to power.
The reports on Masri, denied by a US military spokesman, were triggered by Hasan al-Senaid, a parliamentarian close to Maliki, who said that Masri had been killed in a US strike in western Iraq. The rumor, apparently, was a publicity stunt by the prime minister's supporters, who wish to raise his ratings among the Iraqi public. It was intended to show that at least the prime minister and his US allies were working to bring terrorism to a halt.
Maliki and Rice sidestepped all of these issues at their press conference. Maliki actually seems reluctant to impose real security, since this would mean a certain clash with powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (who currently supports him) and dismantling Muqtada's Mehdi Army.
Since September 26, Iraqis - as elsewhere in the Muslim world - have been celebrating the holy month of Ramadan, and Maliki has ordered a halt to house-to-house searches during the period to avoid arousing religious emotions against the government.
He has also given strict orders that Iraqi troops do not enter Sadr City in Baghdad, where Muqtada is based. Theirs is a marriage of convenience based on religious affiliations and common vision. Muqtada promises to steer clear of anti-government activity, while Maliki pledges to refrain from harassing, arresting or disarming Muqtada's militia.
The two men are united on not wanting an independent Shi'ite state in southern Iraq, although both of them are Shi'ites, and refusing Iranian influence in Iraqi affairs. The fact that Maliki is able to walk the tightrope, with the US on one side and their deadly enemy Muqtada on the other, is in fact remarkable. His friendship with Muqtada has nullified the Mehdi Army's attacks on US troops - and vice versa - and also given great credibility to the government because Muqtada has ministers in the Maliki cabinet and seats in parliament.
To think that the US supports a prime minister who dabbles with militiamen, wants to establish a theocracy and is unable to bring security to Iraq is indeed baffling. This is the Iraq that Rice visited on October 5, 2006.
A story published in Britain's Guardian newspaper on Thursday claimed that Iraq's school and university system was in danger of collapse as students and teachers sought refuge to avoid sectarian violence. Coincidentally, on the day the story was published, this correspondent met an Iraqi college student at a coffeehouse in Damascus. He confirmed that classes had shrunk in size as it was unsafe for students and teachers to venture into the streets in many cities, and added that he had dropped out of the Mechanical Engineering School at Baghdad University in his senior year to search for safety and a job in Damascus.
He said, "If I do not find a job in my domain, I will work in anything. I can work as a waiter, a driver or a secretary!" Universities, he added, had been infiltrated by Islamic militias that forced female students to wear the veil and that persecuted the Christian community.
This community in Iraq was listed at 1.4 million in 1987. Because of rising sectarian violence, only 60,000-80,000 remain in Iraq. Most fled to Syria after a series of church attacks in 2004. According to the United Nations, minorities in Iraq - Christians included - "have become the regular victims of discrimination, harassment and, at times, persecution, with incidents ranging from intimidation to murder". It added that "members of the Christian minority appear to be particularly targeted".
This type of violence is particularly acute in the area around Mosul. High-ranking clergy there claim that priests in Iraq can no longer wear their clerical robes in public for fear of being attacked by Islamists.
Beyond the platitudes at their public show, one wonders whether Rice was able to give Maliki any pointers to getting Iraq out of its mess. Rice and the US administration insist that Iraq is now better off than it was under Saddam Hussein.
The facts, however, prove otherwise. The Human Rights Report for 1998 showed that "massive and extremely grave violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law" were happening in Saddam's Iraq. It added, "Torture and ill-treatment continue to be widespread."
Today, the UN mission in Iraq notes: "Detainees' bodies show signs of beating using electric cables, wounds in different parts of their bodies, including the hands and genitals, broken bones of legs and hands, electric and cigarette burns." The report adds that Iraqi morgues have bodies that "often bear signs of severe torture, including acid-induced injuries and burns caused by chemical substances, missing skin, broken bones, missing eyes and wounds caused by power drills or nails". Those not tortured, it added, are shot in the head.
Rice should have raised such topics as these in her meeting with Maliki, who in his alliance with Muqtada is responsible for a lot of what is happening in Iraq. Sharing the blame are other militias, such as the Badr Organization of Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim.
As head of state, though, Maliki (and his rebel ally Muqtada) should be blamed and punished for the chaos in Iraq, rather than supported by the encouraging words of Rice.
Sami Moubayed is a Syrian political analyst.
Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd.
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