Above is one of the photos Iraqi Spring MC has posted in the last 14 hours about military equipment being moved from Baghdad to Anbar Province. Thug and prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has declared Tuesday that Anbar and Nineveh Province will not be voting April 20th when provincial elections are held. He's decreed that it's too violent there and he made that decree on the day over 60 deaths took place in Baghdad Province. But he's not attempting to halt the vote there.
Many see the move as an effort to punish the protesters in the two provinces. Equally true, he probably doesn't want to see the success of political rivals at the polls in those two provinces.
Nouri and his State of Law goons can never get the message straight. Today, MP Salman al-Moussawi sets the hymnal aside and sings off tone. National Iraqi News Agency reports al-Moussawi is stating that the elections in the two provinces were postponed "to stop the fraud in the elections." So on Tuesday, the world is told it's due to violence. On Thursday, the world is told it's due to fear of fraud.
Aswat al-Iraq notes Nouri has decreed they are postponed for six months.
United Nations Secretrary-General Ban Ki-Moon has a Special Envoy in Iraq, Martin Kobler. As noted yesterday, the UN quotes Kobler declaring today, "There is no democracy without elections. The citizens of these provinces are looking forward to these elections with great hope. They should not be disappointed." And now, according to State of Law's latest switch-around, they're being postponed due to fear of fraud. It'll be interesting to hear the UN's response to that.
In the March 2010 parliamentary elections, Nouri al-Maliki cried fraud and stomped his feet. He wasn't happy to come in second place. He demanded a recount. There was no fraud, he came in second. State of Law has a real problem dealing with election results.
Yesterday, Alsumaria reported that Iraqiya MP Nahida Daini said that postponing the elections for the reasons given would be caving into violence. She'll need to amend that statement to postpoing the elections out of fear of fraud is giving into fraud. Alsumaria reports today that the Sadr bloc has called Nouri's move "illegal and unconstitutional." The Sadr bloc MP Ali al-Timimi is quoted by All Iraq News stating that the UN has refused the postponement and that this "came after the visit of the Deputy UNSG's Special Representative for Iraq, Georgi Posten, to the Ahrar bloc and giving them a document which asserted that."
Meanwhile Nouri's declaring that this week's bombings (he means Tuesday in Baghdad -- the Green Zone was in trouble, so Nouri cares) are the result of people -- "officials and parliamentarians" -- calling for sectarianism. Alsumaria reports that Iraqiya and the Sadr bloc are calling for Nouri and other security leaders to appear before Parliament and answer questions about the bombings. Nouri would be appearing as commander and chief as well as the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Defense and the Minister of National Security. Back in July, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support." That remains true today. Nouri's ignored the Constitution and refused to nominate people for the three posts and let Parliament confirm or shoot them down. If Parliament confirmed them -- this is confusing in the US, I know -- Nouri would lose control of the Ministry. The head of the ministry, once confirmed, cannot be removed unless Parliament votes to remove them. Nouri can't fire a minister. The minister is in charge of the ministry budget and the ministry's mission. It's not like in the US with the White House's Cabinet.
How easy is to get Parliament to 'fire' someone? For over two years now, Nouri's tried to get them to fire Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi. They have refused. He remains Vice President.
On Tareq al-Hashemi and other issues, Zvi Bar'el (Haaretz) offers this look at Iraq today:
On the surface, it would appear that there is a division of power among the Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish segments of the population, and the justice system seems to be functioning adequately.
However, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is
ruling Iraq like a dictator. He recently used massive force to suppress
protest rallies by Sunni Muslims in the western province of Anbar.
Demonstrators were arrested, some of whom simply “vanished.” Torture and
physical abuse are still part of the routine followed by the security
forces.
Vice
President Tariq al-Hashemi, who is Sunni, fled the country after
al-Maliki had a warrant issued for his arrest over involvement in
terrorist activity. Cabinet ministers and members of parliament live in
houses protected by high walls; they have personal security guards whose
services they pay for themselves because they do not rely on the
security services provided by the state.
Human Rights Watch's Kenneth Roth observes at CNN:
Arrests occur routinely without warrants. Thousands of people are held without charge with no end in sight, sometimes in unofficial detention facilities. Torture during interrogation is common. People brought to trial are often convicted through coerced confessions and secret informant testimony. Corruption is reportedly rife in the Interior Ministry, and collusion between officials and judges is said to be common. Judges typically close their eyes to evidence of torture, and due process at trial is rare. Executions are skyrocketing – 129 in 2012 compared with 62 the prior year – with few details available about the identity of those condemned or the charges against them. The government justifies many arrests in the name of fighting “terrorism,” but the common denominator among those caught up in this system of injustice is perceived opposition to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Rather than build a broad political coalition, al-Maliki has used repression to address political threats.
The violence continues today. National Iraqi News Agency notes that a Mosul roadside bombing has claimed the life of 1 Iraqi military officer and left three soldiers injured, and 1 farmer has been shot dead in Diyala Province. Through Wednesday, Iraq Body Count counts 306 violent deaths in Iraq so far this month.
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