Sunday, March 25, 2007
Sunni mosque attacked in retaliation
Security
(Reuters) - Gunmen attacked a Sunni mosque south of Baghdad on Sunday, setting it ablaze a day after a suicide truck bomber struck near a Shi'ite mosque in the same area, police said. Police in Hilla, close to the town of Haswa, where the attack occurred, said at least four people were wounded. An Interior Ministry official said a curfew had been imposed.
Gunmen stormed the mosque in Haswa, a religiously mixed town about 50 km (35 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, and destroyed its minaret in a blast. The building was set on fire, a police official said, describing it as an apparent revenge attack. A suicide truck bomber exploded near a Shi'ite mosque in Haswa on Saturday, killing 14 and wounding 21, Hilla police said. The provincial health directorate and the Interior Ministry official put the toll at 16.
Gunmen stormed the mosque in Haswa, a religiously mixed town about 50 km (35 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, and destroyed its minaret in a blast. The building was set on fire, a police official said, describing it as an apparent revenge attack. A suicide truck bomber exploded near a Shi'ite mosque in Haswa on Saturday, killing 14 and wounding 21, Hilla police said. The provincial health directorate and the Interior Ministry official put the toll at 16.
Labels: Haswa, Hilla, Iraq violence, sectarianism
Friday, March 23, 2007
Political sectarian factions pressurise defense minister
Politics
The Ministry of Defense is under immense pressure from sectarian factions who want to have a bigger say in its recruiting and operating policies. Defense Minister Abdulqader Jassem said the factions would like to build the ministry on sectarian lines that have divided the Iraqi society. “I am under huge pressure from the main political blocs to revise the ministry’s structure on sectarian lines,” Jassem said. But he said he would resist any attempt to build the army in the light of the country’s sectarian divisions.
According to the sectarian allocations of power introduced shortly after the 2003 U.S. invasion, the minister of defense has to be a Sunni Arab Muslim while the minister of interior should be a Shiite Arab Muslim. “I am an independent personality and will not receive orders from (political) parties,” he said. It is not clear how Jassem, a civilian, will eventually manage to keep his ministry ‘independent’ has he claims.
The minister did not deny that sectarian and ethnic affiliations were a real problem the new armed suffered from. He said the ministry’s various army formations were not functioning in a transparent manner and salaries were being paid to soldiers and officers who were not actually in service. He said corruption was rife in his ministry and was trying hard to combat “this phenomenon”.
According to the sectarian allocations of power introduced shortly after the 2003 U.S. invasion, the minister of defense has to be a Sunni Arab Muslim while the minister of interior should be a Shiite Arab Muslim. “I am an independent personality and will not receive orders from (political) parties,” he said. It is not clear how Jassem, a civilian, will eventually manage to keep his ministry ‘independent’ has he claims.
The minister did not deny that sectarian and ethnic affiliations were a real problem the new armed suffered from. He said the ministry’s various army formations were not functioning in a transparent manner and salaries were being paid to soldiers and officers who were not actually in service. He said corruption was rife in his ministry and was trying hard to combat “this phenomenon”.
COMMENT: Abdulqader Jassem was born in Ramadi and is a Sunni Arab former general in the army of Saddam Hussein. In 2003, he joined the new Iraqi army, serving first as the commander of the operations room and then commander of military operations in western Iraq. Prior to his appointment as Minister on 8 June 2006, he was commander of the infantry commando units. He is not affiliated to any political party but his appointment was strongly backed by the Sunni Arab-led Iraqi Accord Front.COMMENT ENDS.
Labels: Abdulqader Jassem, Ministry of Defense, sectarianism
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Saudi envoy criticises Iraqi politicians
Politics, Security
(RFE/RL) Prince Turki al-Faysal, former Saudi ambassador to Washington and chairman of the King Faysal Center for Islamic Research and Studies, told London-based "Al-Hayat" that sectarian violence in Iraq harms Arab and Muslim states, the daily reported on February 11. "All of us will be affected by the increase in any sectarian escalation in the region," he said. Regarding sectarian violence, al-Faysal said: "What is happening in Iraq today is not a sectarian war, as much as it is a political war that dons the garb of sectarianism. The fact is they are politicians who want to achieve political aims and objectives by using a sect, be it Sunni or Shi'ite, or by using ethnicity, be it Arab or Kurdish, and here lies the danger: that the sect or ethnicity becomes the instrument through which politicians aspire to achieve their goals."
Labels: politics, Saudi Arabia, sectarianism
