Thursday, April 04, 2013

Nouri's mismangement gets a blistering critique from an Ayatollah and from events


The month is not shaping up to be a good one for Prime Minister and chief thug of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki.  On the heels of Goran's finally choosing a side and calling him out, now a blistering critique has come from another source.  Mohammad Sabah (Al Mada) reports Ayatollah Bashir al-Nujaifi has spoken out publicly, calling Nouri out for the crises (plural) Iraq is facing, saying that it is due to poor management.  He noted all the billions Iraq brings in from oil and the fact that electricity is still not consistent and that public services continue to deteriorate. The criticism comes as Zhu Ningzhu (Xinhua) reports, "Iraq's crude oil production in the first three months of 2013 reached 3.15 million barrels per day ( bpd), while its oil exports in March stood at 2.42 million bpd, local media said Thursday."

The crises.  There are so many.

There's the security crises.  Violence is increasing in Iraq, Iraq Body Count counted 407 violent deaths in Iraq last month.  Today, for example,  Alsumaria reports that a suicide bomber in Mosul has left eight Iraqi soldiers injured.  All Iraq News adds the suicide bomber was in a car.  In addition, All Iraq News notes, "A missile hit a headquarter of an Iraqi Army regiment in al-Hanka village of Shurqat district of northern Salah-il-Din province on Thursday." The National Iraqi News Agency notes that a Mosul roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and left two more injured, and a Mosul shooting left two police officers injured, a Kirkuk roadside bombing left a police officer wounded.  All Iraq News reports that the National Dialogue Front's Haider al-Mulla has called out the security situation, "The terrorist attacks targeting Iraqis are going on and the security forces are dilatory in their performances so Maliki has to attend to the parliament to discuss the reasons behind the security deterioration to solve them by adoptiong security policies able to confront terrorism."

There's the political crisis and by that we mean the inability to govern or power-share on the part of Nouri.  But the political crisis is so intense in Iraq that even elections become controversial.  April 20, Iraq will hold elections.  Or rather 12 of the 18 provinces will hold elections. Nouri's State of Law is pressing the military and police recruits to vote for State of Law.  NINA notes that Moqtada al-Sadr today called for all Iraqis to participate in the elections while noting reasons for them to be less than eager after elections that appeared to produce little results.  He is quoted stating, "The reluctance in elections and no vote would be an injustice for Iraq and Iraqis, because it would be a prelude for muggers and secularists to take power in the councils and parliament."

Of course, the political process isn't helped when someone always insists that members of Parliament are killers.  All Iraq News notes that Iraqiya's Abd Thiyab al-Ajili stated today that he does not believe that there are murderers in Iraqiya, as Nouri has charged, and that if Nouri has evidence, he needs to present it publicly.  While they're not murderers, Iraqiya is yet again targeted with death.  This happened in the March 2010 elections as well where Iraqiya candidates were repeatedly killed in the lead up to the election.  At least 12 candidates have been killed this campaign season, many from Iraqiya.  All Iraq News quotes Iraqiya MP Talal al-Zubayi stating, "The organized attacks for the candidates of the IS [Iraqiya Slate] are a part of the attempts of targeting [Iraqiya head Ayad] Allawi due to his Arabic, regional and international position."   Al Mada reports on the assassination of attorney Salah al-Obeidi who was a member of Iraqiya seeking election this month.  The 37-year-old male was one of 12 Sunni candidates killed this election cycle and 7 of the 12 were from Iraqiya. 


Iraqiya beat Nouri's State of Law in the 2010 elections.  Alusmaria reports State of Law MP Ahmed Abbasi is insisting that mandates on the three presidencies is targeting Nouri and that other democratic countries do not have term limits for the prime minister.

What are we talking about?  The three presidences are: President of Iraq, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament.  Nouri, to calm protests in February 2011, publicly pledged not to seek a third term.  It's one of his many lies, he's deceitful and dishonest.  He couldn't even make 48 hours before his spokesperson was insisting that promise wasn't binding.  In six months, his attorney would insist Nouri could still go for a third term.  Parliament passed a law last year limiting the three presidencies to two terms.

Is that necessary?  Right now the courts have refused to overturn the law (infuriating Nouri).  But the law itself may just clarify the Constitution.  It clearly limits the Iraqi President to two terms.  It then goes into the powers of the three presidencies.  It can be argued that the Constitution's two term limit actually applied to all of the three presidencies.  For example, the prime minister and the Speaker of Parliament end their term when?

If not in the two clauses of Article 69 of the Iraqi Constitution, their terms never end.  But if their terms end at the same time as the president's?  Well Article 69 also covers the two-term limit.

The various political crises -- and those above are just some -- have led to the protests.  Alsumaria notes that Martin Kobler is declaring all political blocs are responsible for the protests.   Kobler is the Special Envoy to Iraq of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.  Alsumaria also notes that Nouri's Operation Tigris Command has surrounded ten villages in Kirkuk and are targeting protesters involved in the sit-ins.   Al Mada notes Anbar protesters are pessimistic that any demands will be met.  And that probably has to do with the fact that the protests have now gone on for over 100 days and Nouri refuses to offer any real changes.  Alsumaria notes that farmers in Basra are protesting today calling for employment opportunities and farm loans.  This is as least the second time farmers in Basra have protested this year.  In February, they joined a protest with oil workers in Basra.



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