DAMASCUS - A potentially
unimaginable way to kill people has been created
in Iraq. Over the weekend, about 1,200 policemen -
mostly Shi'ites - fell ill with food poisoning
while having their iftar meal to break the
day's fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
At least 11 of the men, all of the 4th
Division of the National Police based in
Numaniyah, died, and authorities strongly suspect
that the food was deliberately contaminated. If
this is indeed the case, an effective way has been
found to add horror to
the
already horrific crime rate in Iraq.
This
was not food poisoning that simply led to a bad
stomach. Sunday's incident resulted in bleeding
from the ears and nose, according to an official
from the Ministry of Environment who was working
with the Ministry of Health. Some collapsed as
soon as they had finished eating, others started
falling one after the other. At the time of
writing, samples of food and water at the facility
have been sent for laboratory tests in Baghdad.
The cook and the contractor have been arrested.
The following day, gunmen killed General
Amir al-Hashimi, an adviser to Iraq's Defense
Ministry and a brother of Vice President Tarek
al-Hashemi, leader of the Islamic Party, one of
the largest parties representing Iraqi Sunnis. The
general's guards were kidnapped and his personal
bodyguard was also murdered.
There has
been speculation that Hashemi was killed by
Shi'ite militias in revenge for the mass poisoning
of Sunday. Another of the vice president's
brothers and his sister have also been killed in
recent months
Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki, who appears helpless to solve the
country's appalling security problem, said
optimistically: "The security forces will capture
the killers and bring them to justice."
On
the day of the general's death, a car bomb went
off at a marketplace in Baghdad, right before
iftar at dusk, killing 13 people and
injuring 46. Earlier, the body of Colonel Thamir
Selman, the deputy chief of the Ministry of
Interior, was found dumped in Baghdad, riddled
with bullets. In Diwaniyya, where Shi'ite cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr has strong support, clashes with
Iraqi police led to the killing of 30 insurgents.
Apart from these 30, who were killed in battle,
another 35 bodies were found in Iraq on Sunday,
all killed by bombs, death squads or snipers.
Meanwhile in the United States, according
to what the US media have described as
"well-informed sources", the Iraqi Study Group
(ISG), headed by former secretary of state James
Baker, has revived the idea of carving up Iraq
into three highly autonomous regions for Kurds,
Sunnis and Shi'ites. The ISG is a bipartisan,
congressionally appointed task force. It was
launched by Congress and endorsed by the White
House in April at the suggestion of lawmakers who
expressed concern about the deterioration of the
situation in Iraq.
Such a plan to dissect
Iraq has already been vetoed by both President
George W Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, who claimed that it would increase sectarian
violence and terrorism rather than bring security
to Iraqis. But perhaps desperate times call for
desperate measures.
Indeed, colonial
history shows that "divide and rule" is the most
successful way to subjugate a country. The French
did it to Syria in 1920. They created
"city-states" to minimize coordination among
rebels, prevent the smuggling of arms, and
obstruct tribal, political and family alliances.
That, apparently, is what Baker's ISG has
in mind, and it is due to make a report after next
month's congressional elections. The plan might be
supported by some Iraqis, including the Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI)
and the Kurds, but certainly other sections of the
population will greatly oppose it. Amid all of
this, Maliki told the visiting Rice that he was
"optimistic" he could find a way to disarm
growingly powerful militias in the country and
bring law and order to Iraq. She replied that he
was a good and strong prime minister.
Yet
how can one take the prime minister seriously?
Shortly after this press conference, his ministers
attended a Ramadan iftar hosted by Abd
al-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the SCIRI, which
operates its own militia, the Badr Organization.
As members of the cabinet were breaking their
Ramadan fast with Hakim, members of the very
militia Maliki had promised to disarm were
guarding them.
The unfortunate reality is
that Maliki is an ally of the militiamen, who
supported his rise to power in May. In turn, he
has tolerated their brutal activities - promising
only in theory to bring them to a halt.
US
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who is rumored to be
leaving Iraq in despair by year-end, has already
shown disappointment with Maliki, saying he has
just two months to get his act together. This
call was echoed by John Warner, the Republican
chairman of the US Senate Armed Services
Committee, when he said after returning from
Baghdad, "In two to three months' time, if this
thing hasn't come to fruition and this government
[is not] able to function, I think it's a
responsibility of our government internally to
determine: Is there a change of course we should
take?"
Back to the poisoning story, which
if it proves to be intentional will be yet another
embarrassment to the prime minister. When hearing
of the incident, this correspondent recalled a
similar story in Syria 58 years ago, during the
Palestine War of 1948.
Syrian president at
the time, the late Shukri al-Quwatli, was touring
the battle front when he noticed a foul smell
coming from the army's kitchen. He was told it was
from burning cooking fat. The president summoned
the cook and asked him to open a new can of oil
and fry an egg before him. Once again it gave off
a terrible smell. The president tasted it and
declared it to be of inferior quality.
Quwatli sent samples to Damascus to be
tested, where it was found that the fat had been
made from bone waste, a cheap material that
damaged food at the war front and poisoned Syrian
troops. He fired all the people responsible for
purchasing material for the Syrian army, then
arrested them all, including the powerful chief of
supplies, General Antune Bustani.
These
mass arrests, discharges and demotions famously
led to the coup d'etat that toppled Quwatli in
March 1949, led by chief of staff Husni al-Za'im,
the man who had appointed Bustani as chief of
supply.
The point of the story is that
Maliki should take action over such a horrific
incidence of mass poisoning of troops - whether it
was by design or not. The least he could have done
was go to the scene and comfort the ill and
personally inquire into investigations. That's
what leaders do. They take action, even if it
might mean, as in Quwatli's case, losing their
jobs.
It takes real leaders to lead
nations. Quwatli was a real leader. Maliki, sadly,
is not.
Sami Moubayed is a
Syrian political analyst.
(Copyright
2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing
.)
