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2 Playing politics with (and in)
Iraq By Sami Moubayed
DAMASCUS - The outpouring of praise shown
for Iraq's former president Abdul-Rahman Aref, who
died in Jordan this weekend, aged 91, is proof of
just how deprived Iraq has become of identity.
On the day of his toppling in 1966,
Baghdad Radio accused him of being an agent of the
US Central Intelligence Agency and a spy for
Israel. Now, Baghdad Radio refers to him as a
national hero, honored by President Jalal Talabani
and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Aref was buried
in Amman because of the hopeless
security conditions in Iraq,
although Maliki had sent an official request to
his family to hold a state funeral for him in
Baghdad.
Representing Maliki at the
funeral were Interior Minister Jawad al-Boulani
and members of the Iraqi Embassy in Jordan. Two
reasons explain this newfound "interest" in the
late president. After all, had he died only five
years earlier, under Saddam Hussein, he would have
received no more than a passing mention - if any -
in one of the numerous state-run Baghdad dailies.
One reason is that he was the weakest
president ever to rule Iraq since the officers
came to power in 1958 and until they were toppled
in 2003. Aref was a harmless president who tried
to befriend everybody, Nasserist Egypt, Ba'athist
Syria, the United States and the Soviet Union.
Internally, he tried to build bridges with
Shi'ites, Kurds and Christians. That is why
everybody loves him today.
Another reason
for the "interest" in Aref is that he was a Sunni
Muslim and a symbol for the Sunni community of
Iraq. Although deep inside Maliki may have nothing
but scorn for Aref, he nevertheless has to
acknowledge him in public to appease the
increasingly disgruntled Sunni community.
In this case, Aref's death could not have
been more timely, as it is a blessing in disguise
for Maliki. All attempts at saving Maliki's
coalition by calling on the Iraqi Accordance
Front, a Sunni party, to return to government,
have failed. They still say that the prime
minister is sectarian, unable to bring security to
his people, and, ultimately, unfit to rule Iraq.
The Front, along with the powerful
Sadrists, remains in opposition to Maliki.
Additionally, the Iraqi National List, which is
close to both groups and headed by former prime
minister Iyad Allawi, a secularist, has also
finalized its walkout on Maliki.
Wadan
Mikhael, the minister of human rights, and
Mohammad Abbas Aribi, the minister of state, left
Maliki's cabinet under orders from Allawi this
weekend. They had been the two "undecided"
ministers. In desperate need of allies, the prime
minister went to Syria last week to meet with
President Bashar al-Assad. By having his picture
taken with one of the few leaders in the Arab
world who has not bowed to US pressure, Maliki
hoped to polish his own image, especially among
Iraqi Sunnis who are allied to Syria. Earlier he
made a similar visit to Iran, where he met with
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.
An American
stooge, after all, would never visit two countries
that were at odds with the United States, is what
Maliki wanted ordinary Iraqis to say. In Damascus,
he even met with representatives of the 2 million
Iraqi refugees in Syria, mostly Sunnis, and fired
off accusations against US President George W Bush
- strategically, from Damascus. Bush had called on
him to be replaced, claiming that he was a weak
leader. Twenty-four hours later, after Maliki's
surprisingly aggressive response from Syria, Bush
backed down, saying the Iraqi premier is a "good
guy" with a "tough job".
The U-turn on
Bush's part brought Maliki's approval ratings
(which never went higher than one digit) crashing
down once again among Iraqi Sunnis. Perhaps this
explains why Maliki came out on Sunday with a new
media "buzz" against the US, this time against
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Carl
Levin, head of the Senate's Armed Services
Committee. Both had called on the Iraqi Parliament
to replace Maliki.
Last Tuesday, US
Ambassador Ryan Crocker described Maliki's
government as "extremely disappointing". The prime
minister snapped back: "There are American
officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of
their villages, for example, Hillary Clinton and
Carl Levin." He went on, "This is interference in
our domestic affairs."
That should do the
trick for Maliki - or so he thought. That should
surely score him points with the Sunnis and
possibly - if he is lucky - overshadow Bush's
praise, which did him great disservice among
Sunnis. On Sunday evening, Maliki went one step
further by announcing that his government would
release hundreds of political detainees - mostly
Sunnis - in response to direct US pressure to
rapprochement with the Sunni community.
Not only that, but the government will
curb some of the restrictions it had placed
earlier, as part of the hated de-Ba'athification
laws, allowing former Ba'athists to re-enlist in
the civil service and the armed forces.
That had been the demand of former US
ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad - among others - and
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who advised Maliki
on his latest trip to Baghdad this year to extend
a hand to the Sunnis. The reasoning goes that if
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