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Iraq gov't in disarray, leaders play blame
game
29.7.2007
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July
29, 2007
BAGHDAD - Friction between Iraq's Sunni Arab,
Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders has erupted into a
public spat over who is to blame for the failure so
far to enact any of the laws that Washington hopes
will reconcile Iraqis.
While US officials have pressured Shi'ite Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government -- a brittle
coalition of Shi'ites, Kurds and Sunni Arabs -- to
move faster, the latest bout of finger-pointing
highlights the political gridlock.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh on Friday
accused the biggest Sunni political bloc, the
Accordance Front, of blackmail and obstruction,
while President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, suggested
the Front harbored insurgent sympathizers.
The Front sparked the war of words on Wednesday when
it pulled its ministers out of Maliki's government
and gave him a week to meet a series of demands,
including a greater say in security matters.
The Front had just ended a month-long boycott of
parliament, while continuing to ban its ministers
from attending cabinet meetings. On Wednesday it
went a step further, telling them to stop going to
work altogether.
The political turmoil, fuelled by a separate
parliament boycott by lawmakers loyal to Shi'ite
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, has hampered efforts to pass
legislation that Washington sees as key to
stabilizing Iraq and accommodating disaffected
Sunnis.
The Sadrist lawmakers have since returned to
parliament.
Only one draft law, which concerns control over
Iraq's huge oil reserves, has been submitted to
parliament, but the 275- seat legislature has yet to
debate it.
September deadline
"Crippling the government, parliament and the
political process will not bring Iraq back to the
time of dictatorship and slavery," Dabbagh said on
Friday, referring to Saddam Hussein's rule in which
the Sunni minority oppressed majority Shi'ites and
Kurds.
Talabani, who tries to stay above party politics,
said in a separate televised interview that while
the Sunni bloc had some legitimate grievances, their
threat to quit the government undermined efforts to
foster national reconciliation.
He also said some members of the bloc "sympathized
with terrorists or supported them", a serious charge
in a country riven by sectarian tensions that have
killed tens of thousands.
Factions within the Sunni bloc have often been
accused of links to Sunni insurgent groups fighting
to oust US troops and topple the Shi'ite-led
government. For their part, Sunni members of the
government say Maliki has ignored and marginalized
them.
The bloc counter-attacked on Saturday, lambasting
Dabbagh for his "miserable" remarks.
Analysts were always doubtful the government would
make enough political progress by September, when
the top US military commander and the US ambassador
are due to report to Congress on US President George
W. Bush's new Iraq strategy.
Political parties, deeply divided in the midst of a
bitter sectarian conflict, are reluctant to
compromise, and critics say Washington has done too
little to force them to negotiate.
The country's top five Kurdish, Sunni Arab and
Shi'ite leaders are due to hold a summit, possibly
next week, in an attempt to find common ground and
end the political crisis.
The meeting will bring together Talabani, Maliki,
Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, Massoud
Barzani, president of Iraq's largely autonomous
Kurdistan region, and an aide to ailing Shi'ite
leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.
Reuters
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