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Iraqi VP Hashemi says Maliki is becoming a
new Saddam
24.12.2011 |
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Iraq’s Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi (R) with
Iraqi PM
Nouri al-Maliki.
Photo: AFP/Getty
Hashemi blames Maliki for
bloody violence
December 24, 2011
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — Iraq's vice president, in
hiding to avoid arrest on terror charges, blamed
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a sudden surge in
sectarian violence.
"We should blame Mr. Maliki -- he started a national
crisis and it's not easy to control," Tariq al-Hashemi
told the BBC's Arabic service. "The Iraqis have a
right to be worried."
His comments followed a series of explosions that
ripped through mostly Shiite areas of Iraq's capital
Thursday, killing at least 68 people and injuring
nearly 200. The attacks, which began at 6:30 a.m.,
destroyed schools, markets and apartments.
Shortly before a wave of 15 bombings ripped through
Baghdad on Thursday morning, killing more than 60
people, Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi warned
that a simultaneous political crisis in the country
could spiral "beyond control." In an interview with
Foreign Policy on Wednesday from Sulaimaniyah in
Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous region where the vice
president has fled to evade an arrest warrant,
Hashemi declared that the Iraqi political system is
"drifting from building democracy to building an
autocratic regime" -- and implied that Iraq's prime
minister, Nouri al-Maliki, was becoming a new Saddam
Hussein.
An ambulance packed with explosives incinerated a
government office, The New York Times reported.
The morning blasts killed at least 65 people --
Baghdad's deadliest day in more than a year. Four
more blasts shook Baghdad Thursday night, killing at
least three more people.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but
analysts told the BBC and the Times they appeared
similar to attacks conducted by the largely
homegrown Sunni insurgent group al-Qaida in Iraq.
Western officials were alarmed at how quickly the
withdrawal of U.S. troops had led to deadly
sectarian violence, the Times said.
Maliki is a Shiite. Al-Hashemi is one of the
country's most prominent Sunni politicians.
Maliki accused al-Hashemi this week of running a
death squad and put out an arrest warrant for him.
Al-Hashemi denied the allegations and fled to Erbil
in semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, under the
protection of the regional government.
Maliki has demanded al-Hashemi return to Baghdad,
but al-Hashemi said he would not because he could
not receive a fair trial there. The Kurdish
government offered no sign Thursday it would heed
Maliki's demand to extradite al-Hashemi, the Times
said.
Al-Hashemi told the BBC the attacks occurred because
the government was too busy chasing "patriotic
politicians" like himself instead of hunting down
terrorists.
"The security services are pointed in the wrong
direction," he said.
Maliki added new tension to the political climate
Wednesday by threatening to discard Iraq's fragile
power-sharing government.
Earlier this week, Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, accused
Hashemi, a Sunni, of running a hit squad targeting
government officials during the height of sectarian
strife in the country. In a press conference on
Wednesday,www.ekurd.net
Maliki went further, casting doubt on the
sustainability of power-sharing in Iraq by
threatening to replace the current unity government
with a majority government if Hashemi's largely
Sunni Iraqiya bloc doesn't end a boycott of
parliament and the cabinet. The political crisis has
sparked concern about sectarian violence returning
to Iraq just days after the last U.S. troops
withdrew from the country.
Hashemi has vehemently denied the charges against
him, arguing that they are politically motivated and
yet another effort by Maliki to consolidate power.
When asked if Maliki has become a Saddam-like figure
since assuming power in 2006, as fellow Iraqiya
leaders Saleh al-Mutlak and Iyad Allawi have
suggested, Hashemi noted that "many of Saddam's
behaviors are now being exercised by Maliki
unfortunately." But he added that Saddam rebuilt
Iraq in six months after the invasion of Kuwait and
the Gulf War in the early 1990s. In contrast, under
Maliki's leadership, Hashemi pointed out, the
consulting firm Mercer ranked Baghdad the worst city
in the world in terms of quality of life.
And there's no question in his mind that Maliki is
to blame.
The Obama administration is working behind the
scenes to resolve the crisis, but there are few
signs of success. CNN reports that CIA Director
David Petraeus has met with Maliki, and Vice
President Joe Biden has urged Iraqi leaders to work
together to avoid sectarian strife. But Hashemi, who
calls himself a "friend" of the United States, isn't
impressed with the U.S. response thus far. He wants
a full-throated condemnation of what he sees as
Maliki's flaunting of democracy. "I am not asking
the United States to interfere in my internal
issues," he said. "But the United States is a
partner in building democracy in Iraq. And they
should continue their role until they are satisfied
that Iraq is becoming a model of democracy in the
Middle East."
In an editorial earlier this week, the Washington
Post urged the Obama administration to inform Maliki
that "an alliance cannot be maintained with an Iraqi
government that pursues a sectarian agenda or seeks
authoritarian power." Obama's outgoing military
adviser for Iraq told Foreign Policy's Josh Rogin
Tuesday that U.S. officials have communicated to
Iraqi leaders that "it's imperative that the process
moving forward happen with full transparency and
within the rule of law."
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