Wednesday, March 14, 2007
During Saudi visit, Allawi criticises Iraqi government
Politics
(Asharq al-Awsat) Dr. Iyad Allawi, former Iraqi Prime Minister and leader of Al-Iraqiyah National List, arrived in Riyadh yesterday a day after the arrival of Masud Barzani, president of Iraq's Kurdistan region, where he was received by King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz and held talks with him which dealt with the latest developments in the Iraqi situation.
Allawi called Nuri al-Maliki's Government the offspring of the sectarian and ethnic situation in Iraq and has several terms of reference and therefore is incapable of achieving national unity. He called on the Iraqi government to abandon its sectarian stands and sectarian quotas and to be the government for all Iraqis and for Al-Maliki to be the Prime Minister of a government for all Iraqis and not for a certain community or political party in that community.
In an interview with Asharq al-Awsat conducted with him during his visit to Kuwait, where he was accompanied by a delegation from Al-Iraqiyah List, Allawi said, "This government does not represent me as a Shiite nor the Shiites in Iraq as much as it represents the politicized Shiites. We warned before and continue to warn that political sectarianism will impede and thwart the government's work as it will impede and thwart the unity of Iraqi society."
Allawi called Nuri al-Maliki's Government the offspring of the sectarian and ethnic situation in Iraq and has several terms of reference and therefore is incapable of achieving national unity. He called on the Iraqi government to abandon its sectarian stands and sectarian quotas and to be the government for all Iraqis and for Al-Maliki to be the Prime Minister of a government for all Iraqis and not for a certain community or political party in that community.
In an interview with Asharq al-Awsat conducted with him during his visit to Kuwait, where he was accompanied by a delegation from Al-Iraqiyah List, Allawi said, "This government does not represent me as a Shiite nor the Shiites in Iraq as much as it represents the politicized Shiites. We warned before and continue to warn that political sectarianism will impede and thwart the government's work as it will impede and thwart the unity of Iraqi society."
He asserted that the "the Kurdish-Sunni-Shiite division is the most dangerous thing facing Iraq and is lethal to it." He proposed the alternative of the "Iraqi national approach that believes in pluralism and the diversity of Iraqi society and gives the rights voluntarily to all the people's sectors without sectarian or factional tyranny."
Allawi disclosed that he discussed this matter with Al-Maliki several times and presented a memorandum for enabling the government to emerge from this crisis made up of 14 points that essentially say the government should be for all the Iraqis so that there would be a ray of hope that situations in Iraq would improve; otherwise Iraq would proceed along a dangerous route if the division, estrangement, and frustration remained."
Allawi disclosed that he discussed this matter with Al-Maliki several times and presented a memorandum for enabling the government to emerge from this crisis made up of 14 points that essentially say the government should be for all the Iraqis so that there would be a ray of hope that situations in Iraq would improve; otherwise Iraq would proceed along a dangerous route if the division, estrangement, and frustration remained."
Labels: al-Maliki, Iraqi National Front, Iyad Allawi, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, Riyadh
Monday, March 12, 2007
Kurds express interest in joining Allawi's Iraqi National Front
Politics
(Al Hayat) Iraqi Kurds are considering abandoning their alliance with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shia-dominated coalition and instead forming a new coalition, the Iraqi National Front (INF), led by former prime minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi List and recently including the Shia Fadhila Party. Prominent Kurdish leader Mahmud Uthman told news agencies that the Kurds were interested "if it is confirmed that the coalition that Iyad Allawi is trying to form can bring together diverse parties capable of bringing about change in Iraq." The article also noted that there was speculation that the new coalition was being supported by the United States, as U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Allawi together visited Kurdistan recently just as Fadhila was withdrawing from the United Iraqi Alliance.
The same article also reports on a separate incident of special note regarding Iran. Kurdish authorities have declared martial law in the border area around Najwin and closed the border with Iran due to the infiltration of Iraqi territory by members of the terrorist Ansar al-Sunna Army (jaish ansar al-sunna). The article notes that members of the Kurdish border patrol have reported repeated attacks from Sunni terrorists coming from Iranian territory.
ThreatsWatch has reported on the formation of this new coaltion twice in the past two weeks. While I downplayed the significance of Fadhila's actions in these previous reports because of its limited influence outside its base in Basra, the potential addition of the Kurds is much more important. The Kurdish parties have been Maliki's only reliable non-Shia partners, and the defection of both Fadhila and the Kurds would deprive the government of its majority in parliament. This is all still somewhat speculative since the Kurds seem to be conditioning their inclusion on Allawi forming the rest of the coalition first, but an Allawi-led Sunni-Kurd-Fadhila coalition would force the prime minister to make radical changes in order to maintain any kind of governing coalition at all.
The association of Khalilzad with the formation of this new coalition, whether accurate or not, could have a negative affect on U.S. relations with the Maliki government if Maliki comes to believe that the U.S. is conspiring against him. There are potential positives that come from this news, but for the U.S. to be associated with attempts to form a new ruling coalition will backlash by reinforcing rampant accusations that the Iraqi government is an American puppet. This is even more true because Allawi was once funded by the CIA.
The same article also reports on a separate incident of special note regarding Iran. Kurdish authorities have declared martial law in the border area around Najwin and closed the border with Iran due to the infiltration of Iraqi territory by members of the terrorist Ansar al-Sunna Army (jaish ansar al-sunna). The article notes that members of the Kurdish border patrol have reported repeated attacks from Sunni terrorists coming from Iranian territory.
ThreatsWatch has reported on the formation of this new coaltion twice in the past two weeks. While I downplayed the significance of Fadhila's actions in these previous reports because of its limited influence outside its base in Basra, the potential addition of the Kurds is much more important. The Kurdish parties have been Maliki's only reliable non-Shia partners, and the defection of both Fadhila and the Kurds would deprive the government of its majority in parliament. This is all still somewhat speculative since the Kurds seem to be conditioning their inclusion on Allawi forming the rest of the coalition first, but an Allawi-led Sunni-Kurd-Fadhila coalition would force the prime minister to make radical changes in order to maintain any kind of governing coalition at all.
The association of Khalilzad with the formation of this new coalition, whether accurate or not, could have a negative affect on U.S. relations with the Maliki government if Maliki comes to believe that the U.S. is conspiring against him. There are potential positives that come from this news, but for the U.S. to be associated with attempts to form a new ruling coalition will backlash by reinforcing rampant accusations that the Iraqi government is an American puppet. This is even more true because Allawi was once funded by the CIA.
Labels: al-Maliki, Fadhela party, Iran, Iraqi National Front, Iyad Allawi, Kurds, Mahmud Uthman, UIA, United Iraqi Alliance
Friday, March 09, 2007
Allawi outlines plans should he gain majority
Politics
(AINA) Ayad Allawi's newly formed Iraqi National Front (INF) seeks to challenge Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and force him to purge Shiite militias from police and government. Allawi, a secular Shiite, was Iraq's interim prime minister in 2004-05. The bloc is a minority in parliament but aspires to overrule al-Maliki on several key issues, Allawi said in an interview with USA TODAY. The two largest Sunni groups in Iraq's parliament joined Allawi's coalition this week. A leading Kurdish politician and some moderate Shiites also have shown interest.
"We cannot see national reconciliation and national unity … thriving in a state of chaos and institutions riddled with militias," Allawi said Tuesday. "We feel our country has really been taken apart." Al-Maliki's ruling coalition includes lawmakers loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric who runs the Mahdi Army militia. The prime minister has given U.S. and Iraqi troops permission to crack down on the Mahdi Army in recent weeks under the new Baghdad security plan, but Allawi voiced frustration with the pace of change.
Allawi said that if he can form a legislative majority, he plans to:
"We cannot see national reconciliation and national unity … thriving in a state of chaos and institutions riddled with militias," Allawi said Tuesday. "We feel our country has really been taken apart." Al-Maliki's ruling coalition includes lawmakers loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric who runs the Mahdi Army militia. The prime minister has given U.S. and Iraqi troops permission to crack down on the Mahdi Army in recent weeks under the new Baghdad security plan, but Allawi voiced frustration with the pace of change.
Allawi said that if he can form a legislative majority, he plans to:
- Replace police under control of the Interior Ministry with Iraqi army troops until the ministry can be thoroughly investigated and purged of militia loyalists.
Impose two years of martial law with rigorously enforced curfews and added checkpoints.
Remove a ban that keeps former members of the Baath Party, which ruled Iraq under Saddam Hussein, from holding government jobs.
While prime minister, Allawi ordered Iraqi security forces into large-scale attacks against the Mahdi Army in Najaf and Sunni militants in Fallujah. Allawi's coalition, then known as the Iraqi List, placed a distant third in the elections in January 2005. Allawi said he does not want to force a change in government. "What we're doing, from within the parliament, is to create a group that … will put pressure on the government … to move the country toward peace and stability," he said.
To pose a major challenge, Allawi probably would need the support of Kurdish parties that support al-Maliki. The Kurds, who account for about 50 seats in the 275-member parliament, are waiting to see whether Allawi can build support, said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker. "If we see his front is making change and is really better than what's happening now, of course the Kurds will go for it," Othman said. He said the Kurds have good relations with the Shiite bloc but have more in common with Allawi's secular philosophy.
Wednesday, the Al-Fadhila Party, a moderate Shiite group, broke ranks with the ruling Shiite coalition, but it stopped short of pledging loyalty to Allawi. Sami Alaskary, a Shiite lawmaker, said he was not concerned about the potential challenge until recently, when Allawi traveled to Kurdistan alongside Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador, to meet with Kurdish leaders.
Labels: al-Maliki, government, INF, Iraqi National Front, Iyad Allawi
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
IAF leader announces new political alliance
Politics
(VOI) Head of the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), Adnan al-Dulaimi, unveiled on Tuesday the establishment of new political alliance called the Iraqi National Front, between the IAF and Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National List (INL). The new alliance will not represent any factional or sectarian trends, he added. "We had talks with the head of the Iraqi National List (INL), Iyad Allawi, as well as all parties participating in the ongoing political process, with a view to joining the bloc, which aims to end the sectarian violence and to save Iraq's unity," al-Dulaimi said in a statement received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
"We will work through the new bloc to step up pressure, on the government and the occupation forces, to end the bloodshed," the statement added. "The new alliance will not represent any sectarian or factional trends as it includes different Iraqi parties, and we will work on solving the security issue," the statement noted. Al-Dulaimi also wished Iraq's neighboring conference great success. The Iraqi Accordance Front is a Sunni parliamentary bloc with 44 seats out of the 275-member parliament while the former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National List has 25 seats.
COMMENT: The Iraqi National Front does not hold enough seats to make any major changes. However, that could change should other secular and Sunni parties join them such as Salih Mutlak's Sunni Arab National Dialogue Front and the Reconciliation and Reconstruction list of Mishaan Juburi. There is also a possibility that the continuous and ever-widening chasm within the UIA could encourage Shia parties such as the Islamic Virtue Party (Fadila) to jump ship. COMMENT ENDS.
Labels: Adnan Dulaimi, Iraqi Accordance Front, Iraqi National Front, Iraqi National List, Iyad Allawi
