Chaos Continues in Iraq

Dissenting voices in Iraq gov't rising

HAMZA HENDAWI

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni dissent is rising inside Iraq's Shiite-led ruling coalition, boding ill for a government already heavily criticized for its failure to curb sectarian violence, end a relentless Sunni-led insurgency and stem crime and unemployment.

The top two Sunni Arab members of Iraq's Shiite-led government painted a dire picture Tuesday of conditions in Iraq, with one saying the government was to blame for the country's "chaos" and the other saying Iraq was worse off than Lebanon during its civil war.

The grim assessments by parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi came on a day when the unity of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ruling coalition was dealt a fresh blow by followers of a radical Shiite cleric making good on their threat to boycott parliament.

The criticism came as Washington looked to al-Maliki's government to show strength in dealing with militias blamed for the sectarian violence and oversee preparations for Iraqi forces to take the lead on the battlefield from the U.S. military, allowing Washington to wind down its unpopular, 44-month-old military involvement in Iraq.

"There is a vacuum of authority resulting from the government's weakness and its inability to exercise its legitimate powers," said al-Mashhadani, the speaker, said in a prepared statement unusually harsh in its criticism of al-Maliki's government.

"This has produced so much chaos...experience shows that our real problem lies in the fact that we failed to create a strong state and a united government," he told lawmakers in an informal session. His comments were broadcast in full by the state-run Iraqiyah television.

He blamed sectarian politics, narrow interests and competition for domination by rival political groups for Iraq's problems and called for the creation of a "national Iraqi alliance" to deal with them. He did not provide details on the nature of that grouping or its mandate.

Al-Hashemi, the vice president due to visit the White House next month, said he did not see the point of categorizing the violence raging in Iraq - the U.N. says an average of 100 Iraqis are killed every day at present - as a civil war.

"But I want to say in all honesty that Iraq is undergoing a very huge calamity," he said in an interview aired Tuesday on Baghdad, the television station of his Iraqi Islamic Party.

"All this suffering has placed Iraq way beyond what happened in Lebanon's civil war," he said.

The analogy between Iraq's violence and Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war was used by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan this week, who also told the British Broadcasting Corp., that Iraqis may have reason to think their life now is worse than it was under ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

"The situation is difficult. Iraq is going through an unprecedented predicament," said al-Hashemi.

Criticism from his Sunni Arab partners could particularly hurt al-Maliki, who seems never to tire of touting his administration as a national unity government that includes Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds. His critics, however, cast doubt on his claim and charge that he has monopolized decision-making. A secret White House memo also cast doubt on his ability to curb the violence and on his authority.

Deepening his woes, 30 Shiite lawmakers from a political bloc that's a partner in his coalition made good Tuesday on its vow to boycott parliament, staying away from a session, thus depriving the 275-member house of its quorum. Only 125 legislators attended.

The lawmakers and five Cabinet minister, all loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, announced their boycott of the parliament and government last week to protest a meeting between al-Maliki and President Bush in Amman, in neighboring Jordan.

The meeting, which took place Thursday, was an insult to the Iraqi people, they said.

Al-Sadr's followers said they would not lift their boycott until the government announced a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops in Iraq, who include an estimated 140,000 U.S. service members, and the improvement of services like electricity.

"We know that the government is unable to announce a timetable for the withdrawal but history will not show us any mercy," a top al-Sadr aide, Jalil al-Nouri, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "But history will show the Sadrist movement to be patriotic."

Al-Nouri, however, appeared to rule out any action by al-Sadr's supporters to press the movement's demands, such as street protests or strikes.

"Sayed al-Sadr has asked us to calmly wait for our conditions to be met," he said, using an Arabic honorific to refer to al-Sadr.

"Our position will be weak if we resume participation without our conditions being met," said Sadrist lawmaker Falah Shanshal, suggesting that the group may hold out for a face-saving compromise.

Bush has rejected announcing a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq, arguing that such a move would benefit insurgents in Iraq.

Al-Maliki, who owes his position in part to al-Sadr's support, admonished the Sadrists for their action in a televised news conference Tuesday, but did not say what action, if any, he planned to take against them.

"We have said over and over again, this is a government of partnership in which they cannot be partners without the commitment that goes with it," he said, without elaboration.

Original article posted here.