|
InvisibleBlack -> Iraq Trembles Amid Renewed Sectarian Violence... (12/23/2011 6:02:43 PM)
|
Iraq Trembles Amid Renewed Sectarian Violence.
quote:
A wave of bomb explosions sent plumes of smoke into the air across Baghdad yesterday, killing 63 and injuring 194 people in the worst violence for months. There is a growing sense of crisis in Iraq as the Shia prime minister Nouri al-Maliki tries to arrest his own Sunni vice president on charges of running death squads.
The threat of escalating sectarian warfare is deepened by the fear among the Iraqi Shia elite that the Arab Awakening movement is turning into an anti-Shia crusade led by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Apparently the factions in Iraq are already moving towards a much more hostile stance. Vice President Hashemi has taken refuge in Kurdistan and the Kurds are refusing to extradite him to the Shia dominated Iraqi government. The incidence of suicide bombings has increased in just a few days. There are already allegations that Sunni dominated Saudi Arabia and Turkey are supporting the Sunni minority in Iraq against the existing government.
quote:
Instead of stressing national unity, Maliki has alienated the Sunni minority, who fear further persecution, and angered the Kurds, who form an essential part of the Iraqi government. Leaders from both communities have previously denounced Maliki’s dictatorial tendencies since he became prime minister in 2006. He has also damaged Barack Obama who had been intending to emphasize in the presidential election his success in withdrawing US troops leaving behind a democratic and stable Iraq.
Maliki’s paranoia may have some justification, given that Iraqi politics at every level is very violent and no doubt plots and conspiracies against him do exist. Moreover, Maliki, now aged 61, has spent much if his life in the Islamic Dawa, the Shia religious party, membership of which meant torture and execution if unmasked under Saddam Hussein. Not surprisingly, the mentality of its surviving members makes them suspect that they are threatened by potential traitors.
Maliki spent much of his life in exile after being forced to flee Iraq in 1979 and lived in Iran and Syria until the US invasion and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The Shia hold on power on Iraq may appear unbreakable, but the community fears a counter-attack by its old enemies.
If Iraq crumbles into a bloody and violent civil war -
Do you think the United States will go back in and restore order?
And beyond that, do you think the United States should?
[Edited: Typos]
|
|
|
|
