Iraq: US collaborators announce 'new' alliance

August 24, 2007
Issue 

On August 16, Iraqi PM Nuri al Maliki and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani announced the formation of a "new" political alliance consisting of Makili's Islamic Dawa (Dawn) party, Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kudistan (PUK), Massound Barzani's Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and Abdul-Aziz al Hakim's Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC).

The four-party alliance — two religious Iraqi Arab parties and the two pro-US Kurdish parties that rule Iraqi Kurdistan — will have 110 MPs in the 275-member Iraqi parliament. With support from independents, it might be able to scrape together a majority of votes.

The alliance excludes not only all Iraqi Arab non-sectarian and Sunni religious parties, but also the two Shiite parties most popular among Iraq's Shiite poor — the bloc of 32 MPs aligned with anti-occupation Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr and the Basra-based Fadhila party.

Formation of the new governing alliance follows the decision over the last few months by 20 ministers from parties outside the "new" alliance to either quit or boycott Maliki's 37-member cabinet.

The four parties in the alliance — described by its Iraqi media supporters as the "front of the moderates" — have long provided the political backbone of Washington's puppet Iraqi government.

The handful of Iraqi Army battalions that the US military has confidence in to independently fight Iraq's anti-occupation guerrillas are largely made up of members of the KDP-PUK Pershmerga militia. The SIIC, via members of its Badr militia recruited by US special forces trainers, provide the bulk of the personnel in the Iraqi interior ministry's anti-insurgent police commando death squads — responsible for most of the "sectarian" extrajudicial executions in Iraq.

Sunni Arab MPs have said the formation of the new governing alliance will lead to the formation of a Sunni-Shiite "opposition front" in the parliament. Reuters reported on August 16 that Saleem Jubouri, a senior member in the Sunni-based Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), with 44 MPs, told the wire service that the Fadhila party and the Sadrists could join such an opposition front.

In an August 22 interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, IAF spokesperson Umar Abd al Sattar confirmed that negotiations to form a Sunni-Shiite alliance between the anti-Maliki parties had begun.

The August 21 British Guardian reported that while the anti-Maliki MPs have "the numbers to topple him in a no-confidence vote, neither the Sadrists nor the Sunni parties appear to wish to be in power at this stage as the whole US-built Iraqi political construct totters. They would prefer to keep up the pressure for a US withdrawal."

The previous day, thousands of residents of Sadr City, Baghdad's huge Shiite slum district named in honour of Moqtada al Sadr's father, marched in protest against raids carried out by US troops, raids that are often accompanied by US air strikes on the crowded district. Associated Press reported that the protesters carried Iraqi flags and banners condemning the US raids. They burned a US flag, shouting "No, no to America! No, no to Satan!"

Meanwhile, on August 17, the death toll for US and allied foreign occupation troops pushed through the 4000 mark, with 3706 US soldiers, 168 British and 129 other "coalition" military personnel having been killed since the March 19, 2003 invasion.

As of August 17, 620 US and 43 other foreign occupation troops have been killed this year — an average daily death rate of 3.37. The average daily death rate for 2006 was 2.39.

Despite US officials' claims to have made "progress" this year against the anti-occupation insurgency in Baghdad and Anbar, these two provinces continue to account for most US casualties. Of the 79 US troop fatalities in July, 45 were killed in Baghdad and 17 in Anbar. The next most deadly province was Diyala, where four US soldiers were killed.

According to the Pentagon, there have been around 5000 insurgent attacks per month in 2007 — a 20-fold increase on four years ago, with 70% of these attacks targeted at the occupation forces. Opinion polls show that at least 60% of Iraqis approve of such attacks.

US officials, however, refuse to publicly admit that the anti-occupation insurgency is a home-grown Iraqi phenomenon. Attacks on occupation forces by Sunni-based guerrillas are routinely attributed to the "foreign fighters" of the "al Qaeda in Iraq" group. Attacks on the occupation forces by Sadr's Mahdi Army militia are portrayed by US officials as instigated by the semi-clerical Shiite regime in neighbouring Iran.

On August 5, for example, General Raymond Odierno, the Pentagon's second highest commander in Iraq, told a media conference that the Mahdi Army was responsible for 73% of all attacks in July that had killed or wounded US troops in Baghdad. He attributed these attacks to a "surge" in Iranian assistance to the Mahdi Army, rather than to the surge in US military operations against Sadr's supporters.

Odierno claimed that the elite Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRG) were "sending more money in, they're training more individuals and they're sending more weapons in" to Iraq. He offered no evidence for these allegations, other than secret US "intelligence" reports.

The August 15 New York Times and that same day's Washington Post both reported that US officials were considering putting the 125,000-strong IRG — a key part of Iran's regular military forces — on Washington's list of foreign terrorist organisations.

However, such a move would be driven more by Washington's need to find a new propaganda justification for softening up international and US public opinion for its planned future Iraq-style invasion of oil-and-gas-rich Iran, than by any evidence of direct Iranian involvement in the Iraq war.

Washington's previous propaganda line — that Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program — has failed to gain much traction because of its obvious similarity to Washington's pre-invasion Iraq WMD lies.

The August 16 Time magazine observed that "Washington's reported plan to name Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a 'specially designated global terrorist' organization may be less about raising pressure on Tehran than about raising pressure on US allies to support a tougher line with Iran. In fact, the move reflects Washington's relative isolation on the question of how to deal with Iran ...

"Naming the IRG as a terrorist group could be used to pressure foreign corporations whose business ties with Iran potentially involve dealings with the IRG, which is extensively involved in Iran's economy. The rationale offered for the move is to curb an organization that has long been at the forefront of Iranian support for [Lebanon's] Hizballah and other radical groups in the region — and, the Administration alleges, is playing an active destabilizing role in Iraq.

"In fact, it is Tehran's role in Iraq and other neighboring countries, rather than the state of its nuclear program, that has been the focus of much of the Administration's recent statements on Iran. US officials from President Bush on down have sought to portray Iran, and organizations associated with the Revolutionary Guards specifically, as the prime source of trouble in its neighborhood.

"US officials now routinely blame Iran for many of the attacks on US forces inside Iraq — despite limited evidence to back the claim — and accuse it of destabilizing the Iraqi government by supporting radical Shiite militia. The Administration also insists that Iran has been working to destabilize the Karzai government in Afghanistan, and accuses it of funneling weapons to the Taliban.

"Adopting a more aggressive posture toward Iran's regional role may play well on Capitol Hill, but the White House is clearly having trouble selling it abroad. Just last week, the leaders of the two governments most reliant on US military protection directly contradicted President Bush's claims that Iran was causing trouble in their countries. Both Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai and Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki publicly reiterated their view of Iran as a friend and a positive influence for stability in their countries, leaving President Bush to huffily demur."

You need Green Left, and we need you!

Green Left is funded by contributions from readers and supporters. Help us reach our funding target.

Make a One-off Donation or choose from one of our Monthly Donation options.

Become a supporter to get the digital edition for $5 per month or the print edition for $10 per month. One-time payment options are available.

You can also call 1800 634 206 to make a donation or to become a supporter. Thank you.