Update [2005-5-30 7:18:11 by susanhu]: US: Arrest of Sunni leader a mistake. (The U.S. is releasing him.)
Muhsin Abd al-Hamid is the head of the Sunni’s Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP). In 2003, the “Sunni professor at Baghdad University and author of more than 30 books on the interpretation of the Koran” was named by Paul Bremer to the Interim Governing Council.
Monday morning, Juan Cole alerts us, Hamid “was hooded and taken away after US troops broke windows in his home and allegedly mistreated him and his sons.” Hamid’s three sons were also taken away, reports Al-Jazeera, which has the most up-to-date, detailed report.
Islamic Party official Alaa Makki calls the raid “a low point in the history of Americans in Iraq.” Iraq’s president is demanding his release by U.S. troops:
“President Talabani expressed his surprise and unhappiness at the arrest of the leader of the Islamic Party and called for his immediate release,” it said.
“The Presidential Council has not been consulted … and feels that treating a political personality of this level in such an arbitrary way is unacceptable.”
Juan Cole says, “Actually it is not clear under the provisional Iraqi constitution that it is legal for US troops just to go arrest people. The arrest of a major Sunni leader,” Cole continues, “will cerainly have an impact on the guerrilla movement. Journalists are already talking about a new potential civil war among the sects.” More below:
Update [2005-5-30 7:21:10 by susanhu]:
US: Arrest of Sunni leader a mistake. (The U.S. is releasing him.)
“This morning coalition forces detained and interviewed Muhsen Abd al-Hamid. Following the interview it was determined that he was detained by mistake and should be released,” a statement issued by the US military said on Monday.
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PHOTO ABOVE, CAPTION: “Mohsen Abdul Hamid, the head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, speaks at a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq Monday, May 23, 2005. U.S. troops detained Hamid along with his three sons and four guards on May 30, 2005.” photo: Yahoo/China View
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IIP issued a statement that “this irresponsible behavior will only complicate the situation,” reports China View.
The Fallujah Factor: Cole points out that the IIP “initially announced that they would take part in the parliamentary elections, then declared neutrality because of the November, 2004, Fallujah campaign.”
About that declaration, Australia’s The Age reported in November 2004:
“The Iraqi Islamic Party has decided to withdraw from the government in protest against the attack on Falluja that is harming the people,” said Mohsen Abdul Hamid, senior party official and member of Iraq’s provisional National Assembly.
Al-Jazeera provides more details on the raid and detention of Hamid and his three sons:
“They stormed the house, arrested Dr Muhsin and three of our sons, Miqdad, a first Secretary at the Foreign Ministry, and Yasir, Deputy Head of the Sunni Waqf [endowments]. They took their mobile phones and some money from the house,” she said.
“They have scattered all the contents of my house, and took our money, jewellery and our ID cards and passports,” she added.
“They even wanted to arrest me too, but I told them I had leukemia so they left me,” she said.
No reason was given for the arrest, and the US military in Baghdad was not immediately able to confirm the incident.
Makki slammed the arrest as “a low point in the history of Americans in Iraq”.
He said more than 200 members of the party were currently being held without charge in US detention centres in the country.
All the more surprising, Makki added, was that the action came a day after Iraqi government spokesman Laith Kubba had welcomed a statement by the Sunni party against violence threatening the country’s fledgling democracy and social fabric.
The statement, reports Al Jazeera, “had also warned the government against transforming security forces into an instrument of repression under the control of Shia Muslims who now dominate the political scene.”
The title of Juan Cole’s blog entry today is “30 Dead, Dozens Wounded by Guerrillas In Response to Operation Lightning.”
It appears that lightning has struck Mr. Hamid and the Iraqi Islamic Party.
At Daily Kos too.
“Hamid, aged in his late 60s, is regarded as a moderate Islamic leader and has headed his party since the 1970s.” — from China View newspaper (link above)
Was his crime speaking out against Operation Lightning? Is the U.S. blaming him for the counter-insurgency? What do you think?
it could be that he was seized for that very reason. You may remember that early in the intifada, one of the first things Israel did was imprison just about any Palestinian who was remotely “moderate.”
When the object is to destabilize and maintain a certain level of conflict, and at the same time portray the aggressor as the bearer of all that is right and just, the last thing you want is somebody calling for negotiations or using those skills to form coalitions between different Resistance groups.
I am more inclined to think, that in this case it was simply another jab, intended to inflame people, bring them out in the streets so that they can be variously shot, beaten, and hauled off, thus bringing out more people, etc etc.
It’s a pretty classic tactic. Ghengis Khan’s guys used to do it too.
I think you’re right is was a jab.
They’re releasing him now. But they rensacked his home, roughed him up — and roughed up his three sons, terrified his wife who had to use her leukemia to keep them from taking her too. And they’ve upset all the Sunnis who belong to this party.
Great job, guys.
Iraqi Government official website. Looks fairly new. Arabic/English. The Provisional Constitution is provided on the UN’s Programme on Governance in the Arab Region [POGAR] site.
The constitution listed is the one drafted by and between the CPA & TPA. Nothing to indicate an update. Cole is right to qualify the provisions because of apparent conflicts between the Constitution and US/”Coalition” agreements currently in force.
“We can lick gravity, but the paperwork will be ovewhelming.” Wernher von Braun.
The US military is getting more and more like the Keystone Cops. They don’t know who is committing the crimes, so they must use a dart board or a ouija board or something of that nature.
Unless they did it to scare the shit out of him and his boys.
And who knows what they said to him while he was detained.
Plus, now he has three sons who’ve been roughed up and traumatized, not to mention a hysterical and ill wife.
I have often wondered just how much of the foment in Iraq, is actually caused by insurgents, etc., and how much by the US. Could they (US) be exerting their control in this way, including kidnappings, maybe even some bombings, etc. so to have things the way bushco wants them, which as we know in his twisted way of thinking, could be just about anything.
This type arrest is a common occurrence in Iraq, it seems any ‘suspects’ are treated in this manner. I am surprised they did not take his wife, normally they don’t care and take the whole family….
Personally I think the number one job of groups like Booman and DK, should be to get our troops out of there. Who can doubt we are making things worse. Worse, not just for the Iraqi’s but for the US as well. Day after day, the story gets worse for us and it all hinges or has it’s roots, in this War on Terrorism.
did the US and the Iraq “government” just last week announce that all US military actions would be vetted by the Iraqi authorities? Seems to me this is the crucial point of the whole story: either the US immediately violated its own agreement or the Iraqi government was consulted and approved the US attack on Hamid’s family.
Either way, this could be the incident that marks the end of any chance for a peaceful resolution of the Iraq attack disaster. If the Iraq government is blamed for approving the raid, it’s hard to see anything less than civil war arising. If the US acted alone in violation of its agreement, the Iraq government will be forced to align itself against the US in order to try and keep the country together.
In the context of all that’s happened, this is a trivial incident, but it could easily turn out to be the spark that set off total chaos in Iraq.
But none of this matters. Don’t you realize, this was a “mistake.” Heh heh.
He’s being released. Everything’s fine. No need to get upset. Move along, please.
Jeez, Louise. The staggering stupidity of what passes for the U.S. government is simply beyond rational comprehension. Just when you think they’ve reached the outer limits of incompetence, ignorance, and ineptitude, they push the edges out some more.
They know exactly what they are doing.
And Halliburton has the quarterlies to prove it.
Yeah, sad to say, you’re probably right. It’s just that it is so devastating emotionally to see the country and the Constitution being trashed by this gang of small-minded, selfish ideologues.
And, worse, that most of the population either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that it’s happening. <sigh>