Iraqi Government Falling Apart

The Sunni walkouts may signal the beginning of the end for Iraq’s government.Iraqi Government Falling ApartBy Cliff Montgomery – Aug. 9th, 2007CORRECTION: The August 9th edition of wrongly stated that two Sunni-affiliated blocs had tendered full resignations to Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki’s cabinet.The first bloc, the Iraqi Consensus Front, did tender full resignations on Aug. 1st.But the second group, a mixture of Sunnis and Shi’ites who follow former Iraqi leader Ayad Allawi, has only begun a boycott of cabinet meetings. Though the Allawi bloc ministers may have ceased full active government participation, they in fact are still members of the Maliki cabinet, and intend to continue oversight of their respective ministries.The August 9th story has been corrected. We are sorry for this error.Two Sunni-affiliated blocs have ceased to attend the cabinet meetings of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government in just a few days, leaving his coalition government with no active Sunni members.  These moves may signal the beginning of the end for the al-Maliki government, and may even shatter remaining hopes of unity among Iraq’s major social blocs of Shi’ites, Sunnis, and Kurds.A first bloc of six Sunni ministers–members of the cabinet’s principal Sunni bloc, the Iraqi Consensus Front–tendered full resignations on Aug. 1st, at the start of a month-long break by Iraq’s Parliament.Five other ministers, a mixture of Sunnis and Shi’ites who follow former Iraqi leader Ayad Allawi, began their boycott of cabinet meetings on Monday. But the Allawi bloc ministers intend to continue oversight of their respective ministries.This mass Sunni exodus was accompanied by a flurry of Baghdad bombings which murdered at least 76 human beings. In just one mass bombing, a fuel tanker was used to kill about 50 people at a well-frequented gas station located in the middle-class Mansour district.The Sunni walkout may render obsolete hopes that Iraq’s warring factions would put down their bombs long enough to pass a series of much-needed laws. At least some of the legislation had been sought by the U.S. Congress as proof of Iraqi progress by Sept. 15th.One can only assume that for Congress, the evidence of the last four years just doesn’t provide enough proof of the direction in Iraq, or reveal what lies put us there in the first place–and that a tiny sample of a few short months shall settle all arguments.While Maliki’s Shi’ite-dominated government still maintains a parliamentary majority, most experts feel that further legislation on matters of national unity will be all but meaningless without the support of the Iraqi Consensus Front.Rafaa al-Issawi, a leading member of the Iraqi Consensus Front, forcefully stated that his group resigned because the Maliki government has failed to include Sunnis in more decisions on various security issues, such as  disbanding militias or holding prisoners without charge.“The government is continuing with its arrogance, refusing to change its stand, and has slammed shut the door to any meaningful reforms necessary for saving Iraq,” Issawi said.Numerous Sunni colleagues of Issawi told reporters that al-Maliki’s representative failed even to meet them for last-minute crisis discussions.“We had hoped that the government would respond to these demands or at least acknowledge the failure of its policies, which led Iraq to a level of misery it had not seen in modern history. But its stand did not surprise us at all,” Issawi added.A Consensus Front spokesman later confirmed to The New York Times that while the bloc’s six cabinet ministers–who include Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zubaie–had tendered their resignations to the al-Maliki government, the group would keep its 44 members in Iraq’s Parliament.In April, five Shi’ite ministers loyal to the cleric Moktada al-Sadr resigned from the prime minister’s cabinet in protest over his refusal to set a definite deadline for U.S. troops to leave Iraq.Maliki cautiously reacted to last week’s Sunni resignations, taking pains to use different words than the tough-talking rhetoric which probably helped bring on this government meltdown as much as anything else.A Maliki statement perhaps breathlessly claimed that talks with his “brothers” in the Iraqi Consensus Front will “never stop even if they have announced their withdrawal from the government.”This is quite different talk than what the Shi’ite-led government has lately been leveling against Sunni ministers. On Aug. 3rd for instance, Ali al-Dabbagh, Maliki’s spokesman, publicly humiliated the Iraqi Consensus Front with charges that it was deliberately obstructing the  government.  Dabbagh even made sure to throw in the charge that Sunni ministers were ignoring the Shi’ite victims of Sunni Saddam Hussein’s era, while “demanding pardon for the perpetrators of mass graves and poison gas.”“The policy of threats and blackmail is an unrewarding policy,” he added.As the Bush Administration has yet to fully learn, government officials in a democracy get poor  results when they heedlessly accuse others of every evil just for disagreeing with them.The inevitable result of mixing raging incompetence with unchecked arrogance? Iraq’s political decomposition quickened this Monday as five other ministers, some of whom were the remaining Sunnis in the Maliki cabinet, announced their refusal to further attend cabinet meetings.The Allawi bloc, a combination of Sunnis and Shi’ites, also cited the prime minister’s inability to listen to demands for political change as the reason for its walkout.Perhaps through this meltdown of the Iraqi government, George W. Bush will finally see what combining incompetence with rhetorical hubris does to a democracy over time.No, probably not.Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!