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Arrest warrant out for Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi
An arrest warrant for Iraq’s vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, was issued today by Iraq’s Judicial Committee, according to CNN. Under “Article 4” of the warrant, Al-Hashimi is cited for terrorism, and is accused of planning bomb attacks against Iraqi government and security officials.
At a news conference held by the Interior Ministry, recorded videos of al-Hashimi’s alleged bodyguards confessed to carrying out these attacks under the vice president’s orders.
“One man said he carried out assassination attempts using roadside bombs and guns with silencers. He said the orders came from the vice president and at times through the director of his office.”
According to Reuters, Major General Adel Daham, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said that the warrant was signed by five judges, and that it “should be executed.”
Sectarian tension may lead to violence and fracture political stability
USA Today reported that al-Hashimi is a parliamentary ally of Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority. Currently, the group is boycotting its participation in parliament “to protest what it called Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s monopolization of all decision-making.”
The arrest warrant may reignite tensions between the Shi’ites and Sunnis sects, whose relationship is already shaky due to the recent withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Reuters reported.
“Political tensions between Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his Sunni partners in the country’s delicate power-sharing deal have sharpened… as both parties traded accusations and counter charges.”
More below the fold >>
Yesterday’s comment in my diary – How ‘Shock and Awe’ Ended
Maliki to Lead Iraq with Iron Fist
Iraq political crisis erupts as last U.S. troops leave
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s political process was unraveling faster than had been anticipated, with Sunni politicians walking out of the nation’s parliament and threatening to resign from the government even before the last U.S. troops had left the country. The crisis was triggered by reports that security forces loyal to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, are planning to arrest the country’s Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, and charge him with terrorism.
In recent days, the homes of top Sunni politicians in the fortified Green Zone have been ringed by tanks and armored personnel carriers, and rumors are flying that arrest warrants will be issued for other Sunni leaders. A brewing confrontation in the province of Diyala underscored the risk that violence could erupt. After the mostly Sunni leadership of the province declared last week that it intends to seek regional autonomy under the terms of Iraq’s constitution, Shiite militiamen surrounded the provincial council headquarters and set fire to the Sunni governor’s home.
The governor and most members of the provincial council have fled to northern Kurdistan, and on Saturday, the main highway linking Baghdad to the northern city of Kirkuk was blocked for a third day by Shiite militiamen who, residents said, belong to Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army.
Is it time to bring back the “fat man”; Mr. Chalabi?
This is going to be interesting.. and of course Obama will be blamed if Iraq now explodes into sectarian violence/civil war between the Shia and the Sunnis.
and don’t forget the Kurds… Kurdistan happens to be sitting on a rather large oil reserve.
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"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
The last article you linked to is filled with standard clueless American BS.
For starters the bit about “the Sunnis” being “Saddam Hussein’s once-ruling minority” is utter nonsense. “The Sunnis” did not rule Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s regime, the Ba’th party did, and the only party that was less sectarian than the Ba’th party was the Iraqi Communist party. Sunnis who were not friendly to the regime suffered a great deal.
Second, the persecution of the Shi`as and the Kurds was not sectarian (Kurds are overwhelmingly Sunni, by the way), it was political. There were Shi`a groups that strove to overthrow the secular regime and institute a Shi`a theocracy in Iraq, and there were Kurdish groups that fought to secede. That was the reason for the regime’s persecution, not sectarianism.
I should have mentioned how interesting it is that so many of the comments from the Iraqis who were interviewed contradict the ignorant American assumptions I pointed out earlier.
Examples:
-while it is true that Saddam was unjust to the Iraqi people, there was security, there was a chance of a job, there were services. Right now things are so bad because of the Americans. (Muslim)
-The U.S. achieved bad things for us, now the Christians are easy target. (Christian)