Unholy Alliance

Iraqi politicians who use Facebook and Twitter to interact with people are a breath of fresh air that Iraq needs more and more of. I follow several Iraqi politicians on these social networking sites but by far the most interactive is Dr Haider al-Abadi. He is Maliki's advisor, official spokesmen for the Da'wa Party and also the current Chairman of the Economic Committee in Parliament. He not only regularly updates his status but also comments on people's complaints and answers their questions. A rare politician indeed.

One of his recent status' was:

'Our slogans are absolutely not racist or sectarian and I acknowledge there are racist and sectarian people who have tried to drag Iraq into a civil war and who continue to try but Maliki has confronted them with neutrality and with a nationalist stance and pursued the outlaws and terrorists as criminals regardless of their sect. The criminals have no religion and our election manifesto has always been clear about the need to protect the minorities and defend them.'

This struck me immediately on a number of levels. He is obviously making references to the Mehdi Army who clashed with the Iraqi Security Forces and he is actually making a very valid point. The fact that Maliki fought these people means you can level all sorts of allegations against him, but never that he is sectarian. But then I was confused because this statement from Abadi comes on the same day as the announcement that the INA and SLA have united as a single political bloc which means they are only a handful of seats away from forming a majority in Parliament. It means the Sadr Movement, whose military wing Abadi is referring to as criminals, has joined Maliki's bloc. So I asked him a question and below is the public conversation we had on Facebook.

In a nutshell he sees the Ba'athists as the greatest danger to Iraq and I see the Shia criminals as the greatest danger to Iraq. A friend asked me if I could imagine having this conversation 10 years ago with one of Saddam's officials and that I would probably be dead by the second question. I don't think I would even have lasted that long but this newly found freedom is one of the fruits of democracy millions of Iraqis are enjoying with passion.

Me: Dr please explain one thing for me. Maliki wants a strong central government, Hakim wants a weak central government and Moqtada still wants to kill the occupiers. The only thing that you have in common with each other is your Shia background. So how is this going to work?

Abadi: Indeed there are points of dis-agreement but there are many other points of agreement e.g. keeping Baathists out, fighting terrorists, providing services to people, improving the standard of living, supporting victims of saddam, rebuilding cities and villages destroyed by Saddam.

Me: Dr no one is going to say they don't want to improve standards of living and services or fight terrorism, the problem is this coalition does not agree on the very basics of government. Moqtada still wants to fight the occupiers and Hakim is still dreaming of his southern state. I can't understand how this coalition is going to agree on legislation in parliament when everyone wants something else and they can't even agree on a PM. There is no united political ideology but simply a united sectarian background. Proof of this is the choice of Ayatollah Sistani as the final arbiter.

In five years aside from an improvement in security we have not really moved forward. It's back to 'muhasasa', back to 2005 and back to putting personal interests ahead of the country. I just hope innocent Iraqi people do not continue to die because they are ultimately always going to the victims. I wish you could succeed but I don't think that is going to happen.

Abadi: Its never going to be easy. However Hakim and majlis stopped calling for southern federartion since they lost local election last year and for Sadris the occupation is going to end in next year and all agree we are going in the right direction on this. We are trying hard to place the interests of the country above those of the parties or persons. However this is a continous struggle since Allah created man.

Me: I don't doubt for a moment there are many who are trying to move the country forward but what I am worried about is the criminals in Iraq who have been given political power and legitimacy. Whatever happens next, I pray the Da'wa Party does not hand over power to these criminals who we all know have Iraqi blood on their hands. I would rather see the Ba'athists in power because at least they don't represent the madhab of Ahul Bayt.

Abadi: Thats inherent part of democracy where people choose and it depends on awareness of people.

Me: That's true of course Dr there is no debate on that count, but in a real democracy murderers are sent to prison or executed, regardless of patronage. Iraq is still at least 20 years behind in that sense. The murderers of your colleague Ammar al-Saffar are now aspiring to control a security ministry, the murderers of my father enjoy protection in their clerical robes, and more importantly the murderers of thousands of innocent Iraqis enjoy popular support. The Ba'athists are not the only criminals in our ranks, nor are they the only danger to Iraq.

Abadi: I agree but there are theives and criminals in democratic countries who are free either due to lack of evidence or because they are able to manipulate the justice system. Its the same problem and we should always thrive to achieve justice as far as possible, however real justice can only be accoplished in the court of Almighty God.

Me: Dr, again I agree, but the problem is not just with a justice system that allows criminals to get away with murder and even with setting up extrajudicial Sharia courtrooms that execute innocent men and women. The problem is also with politicians and security officials who refuse to act and stay silent. I believe in the court of Allah but I also believe Iraq deserves to have fairness, equality and law here on Earth. No distinction should be made between the son of labourer or the son of an Ayatollah, a layman in a dishdasha or a Sayyid with a turban. Murder is murder. A crime is a crime. Those with no power can only rely on Allah.

"I will never rest until I achieve victory and take revenge from the enemies of this nation and humanity, or I will come to you stained in my own blood and meet Allah, my grandfather the Prophet and the Imams and complain to them about what has been done to us" - Abdul Majid al-Khoei

Abadi: Very moving words by your dad rahimahu-allah and I trust that justice from his killers will be shown in this life and the life after. I still remeber that day very well, we were bordering Iraq and about to enter after the fall of saddam. The news of the murder of your dad came as a shock to us and I wrote a statement and delivered it to news media at the time and still have it on my pc.

Me: Thank you, I just hope the deaths of hundreds of thousands of other Iraqis will not be in vain. Real justice can never be shown in this life so long as there are politicians who put their careers ahead of justice, especially those in the INA. But God works in mysterious ways. The mighty Saddam himself was hanged, so there will be a time for everyone, even Moqtada. I cannot interact with the INA officials the way I do with you, so if you could forward them this article I would greatly appreciate it. http://kitabat.com/i67733.htm

Abadi: Powerful article, would you please forward the original english article, thanks.

Me: Thank you, this is the original.

http://eyeraki.blogspot.com/2010/02/machiavellian-snake.html