Al-Maliki’s political pressure grows
Posted: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 7:50 AM
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Baghdad, Iraq
By Jane Arraf, NBC News Correspondent
Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi leaned forward as he explained that he believed there were a lot of others who could do a better job than Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"We have here, I think, a reservoir of leaders who, in fact, could shoulder responsibilities in these very hard circumstances," Hashimi said in an interview Monday. "I do have a feeling that many, many Iraqis could be qualified for this job." He didn’t want to name names.
Hashimi is Iraq’s top Sunni Arab official. His party, the Iraqi Accordance Front, known as Tuwafaq, is at the center of a political crisis threatening al-Malaki’s Shiite-led government. Six cabinet ministers from Hashimi's party have resigned. On Monday, five ministers loyal to former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi announced that they would boycott Cabinet meetings.
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| NBC News |
| Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi discusses the political situation in Iraq. |
Hashimi said that if the government doesn’t meet key demands, he and Tuwafaq’s 44 members of parliament will resign.
"We decided to quit first of all from the government, and if this situation continues definitely the next step will be to quit my position and we’ll think seriously of quitting parliament also," he said, describing himself as unbelievably frustrated.
Long list of demands
Looking like the prosperous businessman he was before becoming a politician, Hashimi said he believed his party also had to be practical and indicated that it wouldn’t try to unseat the prime minister before a report to the U.S. Congress next month that will help decide the future of U.S. troops in Iraq.
Sunni Arabs, in particular, worry about their fate in a Shiite-majority Iraq once American troops leave.
The Tuwafaq front resigned from the cabinet after accusing Maliki’s government of failing to act over the past year on a long list of demands, including disbanding Shiite militias, involving Sunni parties more in security decisions and releasing thousands of security detainees not charged with specific crimes. An aide to Hashimi said the vast majority of the estimated 80,000 Iraqis in detention are Sunni, even though the U.S. now blames Shiite extremists for a significant part of the violence in Iraq.
"This country can’t be run by a one-man show; this country needs collective leadership – that’s what we need," Hashimi said.
Balancing act
We sat in a cool, scented drawing room in Hashimi's residence in Baghdad’s protected Green Zone. Persian carpets covered the floor, oriental paintings hung on the walls. Outside, a fountain splashed in an immaculate garden. Only the profusion of security guards indicated this was not the upper-class Baghdad of old.
Hashimi has escaped assassination, but his sister and two brothers were killed last year in two attacks believed to have been carried out by Shiite death squads.
The vice -president warned that Sunni insurgents who had been persuaded to give the political process a chance could revert to violence because Sunnis had made no political gains.
"The extremists are saying, ‘See? You see now Mr. Hashimi has promised you only have one path to capitalize on – be a partner in the political processes. After one and a half years you tell me …what have Mr. Hashimi and the Tuwafaq front presented to you?’"
He said the al-Maliki government had turned a blind eye while Shiite militias drove Sunnis out of their homes, stepping in only to crack down on the Shiites when the operations were complete.
"I’m gradually losing ground, in fact even in stronghold areas, to our opponents," the extremists, Hashimi said.
