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Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani offers Kurdish
troops to help fight Mahdi Army militia
6.4.2008
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Analysis: Iraq's Al-Maliki Wins Rare Kurdish, Sunni
Support in Militia Crackdown
April
6, 2008
BAGHDAD, -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's
faltering crackdown on Shiite militants has won the
backing of Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties that fear
both the powerful sectarian militias and the effects
of failure on Iraq's fragile government.
The emergence of a common cause could help bridge
Iraq's political rifts.
The president of the Kurdish self-ruled Kurdistan
region, Massoud Barzani, has offered Kurdish troops
to help fight anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's
Mahdi Army militia.
More significantly, Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq
al-Hashemi signed off on a statement by President
Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and the Shiite vice
president, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, expressing support for
the crackdown in the oil-rich southern city of
Basra.
Al-Hashemi is one of al-Maliki's most bitter critics
and the two have been locked in an acrimonious
public quarrel for a year. Al-Hashemi has accused
the prime minister of sectarian favoritism and al-Maliki
has complained that the Sunni vice president is
blocking key legislation.
On Thursday, however, al-Maliki paid al-Hashemi a
rare visit. A statement by al-Hashemi's office said
the vice president told al-Maliki that "we can bite
the bullet and put aside our political differences."
"The main aim at this critical juncture is to ensure
that our political choices are made in Iraq's
interest," al-Hashemi said.
Shiite militias were responsible for the deaths of
thousands of Sunni Arabs in the sectarian
bloodletting of 2006 and 2007. The Mahdi Army is
blamed for much of the killing.
A top leadership council made up of Talabani, al-Maliki
and leaders of major political blocs called Saturday
on Iraqi parties to disband their militias or risk
being barred from contesting elections and
participating in political life.
The council also affirmed its support for al-Maliki's
campaign against militias and "outlaws."
"I think the government is now enjoying the support
of most political groups because it has adopted a
correct approach to the militia problem," said
Hussein al-Falluji,www.ekurd.net
a lawmaker from
parliament's largest Sunni Arab bloc, the
three-party Iraqi Accordance Front. Al-Hashemi heads
one of the three, the Iraqi Islamic Party.
The Accordance Front pulled out of al-Maliki's
Cabinet in August to protest his policies. The
newfound support over militias could help al-Maliki
persuade the five Sunni ministers who quit their
posts to return.
If he succeeds, that would constitute a big step
toward national reconciliation, something the U.S.
has long demanded.
Still, the Sunnis are looking for concessions from
al-Maliki, whom they accuse of monopolizing power.
"The mission ahead is clear," al-Hashemi's office
said in an April 2 statement. "There must be a
national program that obliges everyone to
reconsider, show flexibility, accept the others and
... work in the spirit of one team."
Whether that happens depends largely on how the
government deals with the issue of Shiite militias.
The Basra crackdown, ostensibly waged against
"outlaws" and "criminal gangs," bogged down in the
face of fierce resistance and discontent in the
ranks of government forces. Major combat eased after
al-Sadr asked his militia to stop fighting last
Sunday.
But al-Maliki continued his tough rhetoric,
threatening to take his crackdown to the Mahdi
Army's strongholds in Baghdad. Al-Sadr hinted at
retaliation, and the prime minister backed down,
freezing raids and arrests targeting the young
cleric's supporters.
Barzani, the Kurdish leader, has been at sharp odds
with al-Maliki's government over what he sees as its
lackluster reaction to Turkish military moves
against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. The Kurds
are also angry over the national government's
opposition to Kurdish deals with foreign oil
companies.
But the Kurds, for years Washington's most reliable
allies in Iraq, also see the Sadrists' anti-U.S.
fervor as a threat to the country's political
process and its stability.
Al-Sadr is openly opposed to a federal system,
arguing that carving up the country into self-rule
regions similar to that in Kurdistan would lead to
Iraq's breakup. Another source of tension with the
Kurds is the Sadrists' vehement opposition to
Kurdish claims to the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which
they want to annex to their region over the
opposition of its Arab and Turkomen residents.
"I think the events in Basra will help bridge the
gap between the central government and Kurdistan
authorities," said Fouad Massoum, a senior Kurdish
lawmaker.
Al-Maliki has sought to cast himself as a national
leader who is above the country's sectarian divide,
saying that he was going after "outlaws" and
"criminal gangs" regardless of their sect, ethnicity
or party links.
But other motives may have played a role in the
crackdown.
Provincial elections are scheduled to be held before
Oct. 1 and Shiite parties are gearing up for a tough
contest in the Shiite heartland of southern Iraq,
where oil-rich Basra and the wealthy religious
centers of Najaf and Karbala are prizes.
A successful crackdown in Basra would have boosted
the election chances of al-Maliki's Dawa party and
his Shiite allies in the Supreme Islamic Iraqi
Council, whose Badr Brigade militia is the Mahdi
Army's sworn enemy.
The Supreme Council hopes to win the fall vote so it
can form a self-ruled region similar to the Kurdish
one in the north — something the Sadrists oppose.
Key council figures also want the crackdown to
continue — even at the risk of a new round of
fighting.
"He must impose the law on everyone, and he (al-Maliki)
told us this is his intention," said Jalal Eddin al-Sagheer,
a hardline cleric associated with the Supreme
Council, a close ally of Iraq's Kurds. "We reject
any deals or negotiations."
Copyright, respective author or news agency, AP
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