Al-Maliki announced yesterday that the Sadrist Current has become a “host for criminal gangs” and is inhabited by “Saddamists and Ba'thists” who commit crimes and attacks against civilians.
Al-Maliki’s statements were quickly answered by Sadrist officials, who proclaimed that al-Maliki’s government is “practically over, in what concerns us and the occupation.”
The unprecedented attacks by the Prime Minister against his –theoretical- ally may indicate that the uneasy relationship between the constituents of the United Iraqi Alliance has finally come to an unhappy ending.
The Sadrist Current constituted a major pillar of the I’tilaf (United Iraqi Alliance) bloc, born during the 2005 elections as a Shi'a front, and established as the largest group in the parliament and the biggest player in the Iraqi government. The UIA, however, is made up of several parties, whose momentary electoral alliance soon gave way to competition, contradictory agendas and military clashes in numerous instances. Al-Maliki (and al-Ja'fari before him, both belonging to the –relatively smaller- Da'wa party) tried to strike a delicate balance between the two major wings of the UIA: the Sadrist Current and al-Hakeem’s SIIC (previously known as SCIRI).
Al-Hayat reported al-Maliki’s attacks against Sadr as an indication of the Prime Minister “Siding irrevocably” with al-Hakeem against Muqtada’s organization, “with the support of the Americans.”
The newspaper saw the Maliki-Sadr enmity as being the result of two interlocking issues: on one hand, the paper claimed, a distancing between the Prime Minister and the populist cleric that occurred in tandem with the Sadr-Hakeem rivalry, which intensified when the two parties disagreed over the candidate who should replace Ja'fari as Prime Minister.
On the other hand, the paper alleged, al-Maliki was under rising US pressure to “deal” with the Shi'a militias that were increasingly perceived as being protected by the government. Al-Maliki had defended his Sadrist allies in the past, and taken a critical stance (albeit without significant practical implications) against the US incursions into Sadr City, the bastion of the Current and its armed wing.
Az-Zaman, on the other hand, reported that the conflict between Sadrists and the government has further burdened the security situation in Baghdad. The newspaper said that “a tense ambiance” loomed over the capital as rumors spread regarding a government-imposed curfew in the afternoon, following an anti-Maliki Sadrist demonstration.
The paper headlined in its Iraqi edition: “the Sadrist Current: we brought Maliki to the government and fulfilled his demands, and he has turned against us.” A Sadrist official spoke to Az-Zaman, rebutting al-Maliki’s accusations “(if it were true) that Saddamists and Ba'thists command wings within the Current ... that would mean that Saddamists and Ba'thists have brought al-Maliki into the prime ministership.”
A Sadrist official who spoke to the paper accused al-Maliki of “hypocrisy” and claimed that the Prime Minister “lured the occupational forces into striking the Sadrist Current.” The Sadrist leader implied that the Da'wa and SIIC parties had benefited from Sadr’s popularity to accede to the helm of the government and are now attempting to eliminate their former ally and monopolize the cabinet. Similarly, al-Hayat claimed that al-Maliki’s rupture with the Current comes after the Prime Minister guaranteed the Kurdish vote in the parliament, and calculated that he would obtain a relative majority in the House in conjunction with the other UIA parties.
In other news, al-Jazeera reported that the Iraqi vice-President called on Iraqis to carry arms and “defend themselves” in a further showing of the deteriorating security conditions in the country and the impotence of the state agencies.
According to al-Jazeera, Tariq al-Hashimi (who is also the head of the Islamic Party) said in a statement that “we should recognize the right of the people to defend themselves, and encourage them to participate effectively in the security dossier.”
Similarly, al-Hayat published a report describing the tactics used by militias to force Baghdad citizens to bear arms. According to the paper, local militias have been ordering the residents within their zones of control to carry arms and “defend their neighborhoods” against attacks originating from “enemy” quarters. The paper said that “vigilante” groups organized by local militias often get diverted to “carry out missions that exceed their original purpose.”
Akram, a Baghdad resident interviewed by the newspaper said that he was “drafted” by his local militia to patrol his neighborhood, adding that those refusing to participate in guard duties risk being expulsed from their neighborhoods.
