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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; Prime Minister Maliki</title>
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		<title>Iraq Now Directly Involved in Syrian Civil War</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/iraq-now-directly-involved-in-syrian-civil-war/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=iraq-now-directly-involved-in-syrian-civil-war</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/iraq-now-directly-involved-in-syrian-civil-war/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 May 2014 15:37:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Daniel Greenfield]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Point]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prime Minister Maliki]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syrian Civil War]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=224596</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Iraqi army helicopters hit a jihadist convoy in eastern Syria]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/080514-F-5957S-558.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-224601" alt="Iraqi air force performs medical evacuation" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/080514-F-5957S-558-450x302.jpg" width="450" height="302" /></a></p>
<p>Iraq has been buying up a whole lot of air power lately. There were speculations as to where they wanted to put it to use.<a href="http://blazingcatfur.blogspot.com/2014/04/iraqi-helicopters-strike-jihadis-in.html"> It looks like the answer is Syria</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p>Iraqi army helicopters hit a jihadist convoy in eastern Syria on Sunday, killing at least eight, in a show of strength just days before the country’s first general election since 2010.</p>
<p>It was the first strike inside Syria claimed by Iraq since the three-year uprising against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March 2011.</p>
<p>“The army struck eight tanker trucks in Wadi Suwab inside Syrian territory as they were trying to enter Iraqi territory to provide the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with fuel,” interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan said.</p></blockquote>
<p>Technically Maan is claiming that this was a cross border strike to deprive Al Qaeda in Iraq of fuel, but that could likely have been done inside Iraqi airspace. Iraq is creating a precedent while tightening ties with Syria.</p>
<p>ISIL&#8217;s cross-border nature makes this innately a cross-border war. The group has designs and territory in both countries. And common Shiite religion and their place in Iran&#8217;s axis is bringing Syria and Iran&#8217;s governments together.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Maliki <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/30/world/middleeast/unrest-in-iraq-narrows-odds-for-maliki-win.html">ran on a strongman platform</a>, even though his Shiite bias helped Al Qaeda make a comeback.</p>
<blockquote><p>Mr. Maliki’s prospects have brightened from six months ago, when he had few genuine accomplishments to point to. Heavy fighting against Sunni Islamist extremists in Anbar Province and other areas of the country has allowed him to campaign as a wartime leader and present himself to the Shiite majority as the leader of an existential fight that he has defined in starkly sectarian terms.</p>
<p>Iran, perhaps Mr. Maliki’s most important supporter as he consolidated power in recent years, has supported his re-election campaign with millions of dollars, according to American intelligence reports. But Iran has also funneled money to some Shiite rivals of Mr. Maliki, demonstrating that Iran’s chief aim is to maintain Shiite dominance, not necessarily Mr. Maliki’s rule.</p>
<p>In exile, in Iran and Syria, Mr. Maliki was in charge of military operations inside Iraq for the Shiite Islamic Dawa Party, a life experience that has instilled a lasting sense of paranoia that is deepened by the constant threat of assassination he lives under now.</p>
<p>He has given his son, Ahmed, broad, vaguely defined powers over security within the prime minister’s office and inside the Green Zone. And both of his sons-in-law, who work for his office, are running in the election.</p></blockquote>
<p>Meet the new Saddam. If he survives.</p>
<p>Maliki escalated a Sunni-Shiite conflict for political power. But this typical of the region where holy wars are politically rewarding for both sides.</p>
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		<title>Iraq PM Pens Editorial Warning Against Arming Syrian Sunni Rebels</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/iraq-pm-pens-editorial-warning-against-arming-syrian-sunni-rebels/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=iraq-pm-pens-editorial-warning-against-arming-syrian-sunni-rebels</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/iraq-pm-pens-editorial-warning-against-arming-syrian-sunni-rebels/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:15:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Daniel Greenfield]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Point]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iraq War]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prime Minister Maliki]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syrian Civil War]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=185038</guid>
		<description><![CDATA["A Syria controlled in whole or part by al-Qaeda and its affiliates  would be more dangerous to both our countries than anything we’ve seen up to now."]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/iraq-pm-pens-editorial-warning-against-arming-syrian-sunni-rebels/maliki_ahmadinejad_handshake/" rel="attachment wp-att-185039"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-185039" title="maliki_ahmadinejad_handshake" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/maliki_ahmadinejad_handshake.jpg" alt="" width="512" height="446" /></a></p>
<p>Considering that Prime Minister Maliki bookends these warnings with praise for America&#8217;s intervention in Iraq, the target audience has to be the neoconservatives who are urging a Syrian intervention. Maliki is patting them on the back for getting Iraq right, but warns them against getting Syria wrong and defends Iraq&#8217;s current &#8220;ambiguous&#8221; policy toward Syria.</p>
<p>So t<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/nouri-al-maliki-the-us-has-a-foreign-policy-partner-in-iraq/2013/04/08/dcb9f8a6-a05e-11e2-82bc-511538ae90a4_story.html">here are paragraphs like these</a> that make supporters of the Iraq War feel good.</p>
<blockquote><p>Today, on the 10th anniversary of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the debate about whether it was worth it to topple the regime and the direction of the U.S.-Iraqi relationship is influenced by a pessimistic view that the United States has lost Iraq. Not true. Despite all the problems of the past decade, the overwhelming majority of Iraqis agree that we’re better off today than under Hussein’s brutal dictatorship.</p>
<p>Iraqis will remain grateful for the U.S. role and for the losses sustained by military and civilian personnel that contributed in ending Hussein’s rule.</p></blockquote>
<p>But the overall message is that</p>
<p>1. Iraq is a friend of the United States</p>
<p>2. Iraq has a lot of oil</p>
<p>3. Iraq wants to maintain a friendly relationship with Sunni and Shiite countries so don&#8217;t go expecting it to take a stand against Syria or Iran.</p>
<p>4. Arming the Syrian rebels is dangerous, stupid and crazy</p>
<p>Maliki is obviously right on that last point, even if his religious affiliations make his bias in the matter rather obvious.</p>
<blockquote><p>We have been mystified by what appears to be the widespread belief in the United States that any outcome in Syria that removes President Bashar al-Assad from power will be better than the status quo. A Syria controlled in whole or part by al-Qaeda and its affiliates — an outcome that grows more likely by the day — would be more dangerous to both our countries than anything we’ve seen up to now. Americans should remember that an unintended consequence of arming insurgents in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets was turning the country over to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.</p></blockquote>
<p>That part is common sense, but American foreign policy experts rarely listen to common sense from Arab leaders. Witness the baffled unease with which the Goldberg interview with the King of Jordan was met. By now most of the experts understand that the Muslim Brotherhood means dark times for Egypt, but they still have trouble saying it out loud.</p>
<p>Maliki is saying the obvious thing out loud, which few American foreign policy experts will do, and he&#8217;s using his leverage as the prime minister of a country that loomed large in American foreign policy to do it in the pages of the Washington Post.</p>
<p>But Maliki is even easier to dismiss than the King of Jordan. The Iraqi PM is right about the danger of Islamist militias taking over Syria and the boost to Al Qaeda, but it would have been better if he had been more up front about his own agenda.</p>
<p>Maliki&#8217;s talk of a negotiated solution is the official party line of Syria. With growing Sunni and Shiite splitting the region, a Shiite dominated Iraq becomes more precarious. It&#8217;s not hard to envision a lot of the Salafists heading back into Iraq from Syria once the fighting is done. That was how the insurgency began. And if the Muslim Brotherhood takes Syria, then the combined leverage of Egypt and Syria will be enough to make them start thinking seriously about their Iraqi problem.</p>
<p>The issue here isn&#8217;t just stability, as Maliki suggests. There is a loose Shiite alliance that Maliki is part of. And certainly Maliki has no interest in the fall of Assad and the transformation of Syria into a Sunni dominated country. That would be truly bad for business and would be likely to touch off yet another phase of the civil war in Iraq.</p>
<p>Iran is a trickier question, but again Maliki has clear affinities there and in a polarized Middle East, Maliki needs Iran. Maliki emphasizes that Iraq is independent of Iran, but Iraq, like every other Muslim country in the region, is playing all sides for an advantage.</p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Iraq’s New Crisis</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/ryan-mauro/iraq%e2%80%99s-new-crisis/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=iraq%25e2%2580%2599s-new-crisis</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/ryan-mauro/iraq%e2%80%99s-new-crisis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:04:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Mauro]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[accountability]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[accountability commission]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ahmed Chalabi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Haq]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Maliki]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alliance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[America]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ath party]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ayatollah Al-Sistani]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Baath]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[baath party]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bloc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coalition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Commission]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Council]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dawa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[decision]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[defense minister]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Defense Minister Abdulqadir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[election commission]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[existing partners]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grou]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hostage killers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iraqi government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[islamic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Justice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kamal Shibeeb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kenneth Pollack]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael E. O]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mutlaq]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[national resistance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[obeidi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[obvious double standard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parliamentary elections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Party]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[party membership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prime Minister Maliki]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Reuters]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[secular]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[shiites]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sunni]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Sunnis]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[violence]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=47182</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A government ban of 500 election candidates threatens to derail the country’s political progress.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-47184" title="iraqi_prime_minister_nouri_al-maliki" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/iraqi_prime_minister_nouri_al-maliki.jpg" alt="iraqi_prime_minister_nouri_al-maliki" width="450" height="330" /></p>
<p>Iraq has steadily improved since the U.S. launched the “surge” of 2007. Security has increased, the economy has grown, democracy is taking hold, and cross-sectarian reconciliation is underway. All that could change, however, with the Iraqi government’s <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8461275.stm">decision</a>, supported by Prime Minister <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/17/world/la-fg-iraq-politics17-2010jan17">Nouri Maliki</a>, to ban 500 politicians for allegedly having ties to the outlawed Baath Party of the late Saddam Hussein.</p>
<p>On January 14, the Iraqi government’s Independent High Election Commission sided with the Justice and Accountability Commission in its decision to ban over 500 politicians for allegedly having ties to the Baath Party. The earliest reporting said that these were nearly all Sunni politicians, indicating that the Shiite government was trying to minimize the strength of its sectarian rival ahead of the parliamentary elections on March 7, but <em>Reuters</em> <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100120/wl_nm/us_iraq_baath_1">received</a> a copy of the list and found that two-thirds of those banned were Shiites. Many observers forget that, as Prime Minister Maliki has <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100119/wl_mideast_afp/iraqvote_20100119195936">pointed out</a> since the crisis began, 70 percent of the Baath Party membership was Shiite.</p>
<p>However, the effect is the greatest on the Sunnis, as some of their most prominent leaders have been kicked out of the political process without a public hearing. Among those banned are Defense Minister Abdulqadir al-Obeidi and Saleh al-Mutlaq, a Sunni leader who left the Baath Party in 1977 but has opposed the decision to ban the party. Mutlaq is far from a pro-American liberal. He has long demanded a U.S. withdrawal, courts Baath supporters, and has <a href="http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&amp;id=4991">criticized</a> America for branding “honorable national resistance movements” as terrorists. Still, Sunnis will interpret a ban on him as an act of Shiite-orchestrated oppression against them.</p>
<p>Furthermore, there is an obvious double standard here. As the <em>Iraq the Model</em> blog explains:</p>
<blockquote><p>“While major existing partners in the political process are banned over alleged ties to the Ba’ath Party, the government is at the same time making deals with hostage killers like the group known as Asaib Ahl Al-Haq and is trying to persuade them to join the political process.”</p></blockquote>
<p>The ban is not necessarily sectarian in nature, but it is intended more to hurt the coalition of secular and religious Sunnis who have allied with former Prime Minister and secular Shiite Iyad Allawi to create a cross-sectarian, secular and anti-Iran political coalition that can challenge the ruling Shiite government and the more religious, pro-Iran parties. There were unconfirmed reports that this bloc was communicating with the Kurds about an alliance, which would make a decisive difference on election day.</p>
<p>Al-Maliki previously benefited politically when his Dawa Party ran on a non-sectarian, secular platform focused on security, and therefore is threatened by the ascent of a political bloc with similar credentials. Ahmed Chalabi, whose close ally is the head of the Justice and Accountability Commission, has thrown his lot in with the Iraqi National Coalition that includes pro-Iranian elements like the Sadrists and the Supreme Islamic Council. Al-Maliki originally formed his State of Law coalition to compete with this bloc, but has decided to ally with his former competitors following a <a href="http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/23509.htm"></a><a href="http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/23509.htm"></a><a href="http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/23509.htm">meeting</a> with Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani.</p>
<p>To make matters worse, the Najaf province has reacted to a triple bombing by saying they are going to <a href="http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/23932.htm">expel</a> all residents with Baath ties and their families with very little notice for them to prepare. Current numbers are not available, but one report said that there were 130,000 Baathists in the province before Operation Iraqi Freedom began. Many Iraqis joined the Baath Party out of necessity, and relatively few fought to defend the overthrow of its rule. This extreme measure will almost certainly result in violence, and is seen in Iraq as an attempt to stifle secular and Sunni votes. Al-Maliki’s Dawa Party surprisingly defeated the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council in Najaf during last year’s provincial elections.</p>
<p>There is open talk of a Sunni boycott off the parliamentary elections, which would create a potentially insurmountable division between the sects. Should secular forces join in, then the division expands into political ideology. One Sunni politician who has been banned, Mustafa Kamal Shibeeb, is openly warning that “If there is no balance, there will be violence.”</p>
<p>Neither violence nor a boycott will help the secularists or the Sunnis &#8212; or indeed anyone in the country wanting stability and progress. The correct approach would be for the banned politicians to turn it into political ammunition and encourage even greater turnout in order to prevent a monopoly on power in the hands of Al-Maliki and the pro-Iranian bloc he has formed an electoral alliance with. Unfortunately, the disenfranchisement of the Sunnis and the secular forces could lead to a disillusion with democracy and provoke strife that could quickly turn out of control.</p>
<p>Kenneth Pollack and Michael E. O’Hanlon <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/opinion/18pollack.html?ref=opinion">warn</a> that this “is just the kind of seemingly small problem that could unravel the entire political fabric of Iraq.” Their statement came prior to the latest developments in Najaf. Iraq is about to face its biggest crisis since the astronomic levels of violence and near-civil war that preceded the surge. How the Iraqis handle it will have a profound impact on the West’s security and the U.S. plan to finally withdraw its forces.</p>
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