Allies Of Shi’Ite Cleric Quit Iraq Cabinet

Is this the beginning of the end for Iraq’s current government?Allies Of Shi’ite Cleric Quit Iraq CabinetBy Cliff Montgomery – Apr. 17th, 2007Memo to the Bush Administration: In Muslim countries, it is considered a great sin for any Muslim nation to be conquered and occupied by a non-Muslim force, even if that force means well. Islam commands believers to continually strike at the “infidel” through any means necessary. This alone explains why Bush’s “fruitless nation-building” in Iraq–or any Muslim nation–can only be a horrible waste of life.Now cabinet ministers loyal to the powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned on Monday in protest of the prime minister’s refusal to set a timetable for an American withdrawal. This has raised the possibility that al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia may return to the streets of Baghdad.In a possible sign of the militia’s resurgence, the number of executed people found in Baghdad increased sharply on Sunday to 30–from as low as five in recent days.The victims, most of whom were tortured before they were shot execution-style, are thought to be the victims of Shiite death squads allied with the Mahdi Army. Al-Sadr’s troops had followed his orders to hide their weapons and stay off the streets just before the U.S. troop “surge” and security crackdown began on Feb. 14th.While the departure of the six ministers is unlikely to topple Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, it will surely weaken the U.S.-backed leader, who had relied on support from the Sadrists to gain office.Earlier that day, Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the Sadrist bloc, proclaimed that the ministers would “give the six Cabinet seats to the government, with the hope that they will be given to independents who represent the will of the people.”The Bush Administration claimed al-Sadr’s decision to pull out his ministers does not mean that al-Maliki will lose his majority.”I’d remind you that Iraq’s system of government is a parliamentary democracy and it’s different from our system. So coalitions and those types of parliamentary democracies can come and go,” claimed Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman.But in her history lecture to journalists, Ms. Perino seems to have forgotten that parliamentary power rests in government coalitions coming together and staying, not coming and going–especially when there’s no viable group who can fill the void left by a popular departing party.One week ago, al-Sadr rallied tens of thousands of Iraqis for a peaceful demonstration in two Shiite holy cities, marking the fourth anniversary of Baghdad’s fall. At the protests, many called for the Iraqi government to set a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal.Al-Rubaie said the Sadrists’ resignation from the Cabinet was due to the prime minister’s refusal of demands made at last week’s demonstration.He also relayed a further condition by al-Sadr that all detainees currently held by “occupation forces” be transferred to Iraqi authorities “because this is part of sovereignty.”Al-Sadr representatives had held six positions in the 37-member Cabinet, and 30 seats in the 275-member parliament. Monday’s order struck only the Cabinet members.”We will have a major role in working on a timetable in parliament. This will be our message to the government,” said al-Rubaie.”Setting a timetable for the withdrawal will be done in parliament,” he added.Other legislators admitted the resignation of al-Sadr’s cabinet members may further destabilize al-Maliki’s already tenuous hold on power. That of course supposes he had any power over Iraqis in the first place.More than a dozen Iraqi soldiers were killed Monday when when an equal number of gunmen concealed in the back of a truck ambushed their military checkpoint near the northern city of Mosul, police said. Another four soldiers were injured, according to police Brig. Saeed Ahmed al-Jibouri, director of Ninevah police.Meanwhile, thousands upset about unreliable city services peacefully marched through the streets of Iraq’s second largest city on Monday, demanding the provincial governor’s resignation. Protesters say they’ve had enough of inadequate electricity, garbage disposal and water supplies in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.Two explosions echoed across central Baghdad mid-morning–presumably the sound of mortar shells destroying a schoolyard at Baghdad University, along the Tigris river.While there were no reported casualties, the blasts left residents gun-shy a day after cars, minibuses and roadside bombs blew apart Shiite Muslim enclaves across the city, killing at least 45 people in partisan violence that mocked the Baghdad security crackdown.