In Iraq today, the big news is . . . US Vice President Joe Biden. Alsumaria reports cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr has labeled Joe "Satanic." He accuses Joe of attempting to divide Iraq. He says that God should cut out the tongue of Joe Biden. That he is a client of Israel and that Joe's push to divide Iraq into three regions is work Joe does on behalf of Israel. Kitabat notes the remarks as well and while he was known a little while ago as "The Godfather of the Divide," Joe Biden now has a new name in Iraq: "The Ugly Terrorist."
For those late to the party, May 24th, Joe Biden called Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (a Shi'ite), Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi (a Sunni) and Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani (a Kurd). As we noted in that day's snapshot:
I like Joe Biden. But talk about tone deaf on the part of the White House, talk about the need for Arabic speakers in the White House. There is nothing worse they could have done then have Joe Biden speak to Iraqi leaders today -- this month.
In the US, Joe Biden represents many things to different sets of people. In Iraq? He's got two images and let's focus on the most damaging: He proposed, as US Senator, that peace in Iraq would be possible only by splitting the country into a Shi'ite South, a Sunni central and the KRG in the north. As Senator. And we noted, while running for the presidential nomination, right before Iowa, Joe had noted if the US Congress didn't support then the idea was dead. We covered that here.
Most ignored it because Biden's campaign was losing steam (he'd quickly drop out of the race).
It never registered in Iraq.
They continue to see Biden as the man who wants to split up their country. And the Arabic press for the last three weeks has been full of reports that it's about to happen, Iraq's about to split. Nouri's been in contact with Biden, the Kurds came to Baghdad just to ensure that the split takes place, blah blah blah. Whispers with no foundation -- they may be true, they may be false -- have been all over Arabic media -- not just social media, all of the Iraqi outlets have reported it -- and reported it as a done deal.
So with the tension and fear rising in Iraq currently, why is Biden the go-to? This was absolutely the wrong thing at the wrong time and these calls with the various leaders, whatever their intent (I'm told military issues were discussed with Nouri -- specifically more troops under the Strategic Framework Agreement and last December's Memorandum of Understanding with the Defense Dept), are only going to fuel more rumors in Iraq.
The White House was tone deaf. Ignorant and unaware.
They seriously compromised Biden's effort to be listened to in Iraq.
They further compounded the problem by refusing to address it. May 24th, we said the calls would cause problems. May 25th, those problems started showing up in the Iraqi press. They've continued to. It's now June 4th.
The White House has refused to issue a denial that Joe Biden is negotiating the breaking up of Iraq into three different units. That should have been done immediately. By the time he was being called The Godfather of the Divide, they really needed to issue a statement. They failed to then.
Now he's being called Satan and The Ugly Terrorist and worse.
And the White House remains silent.
Barack has no pull with Iraqi leaders. They honestly were ga-ga on him in 2008 (before he was elected) and in 2009. But he put his name to The Erbil Agreement in November 2010, he gave his word. And when Nouri broke that contract and the White House averted their eyes, Barack's word became worthless in Iraq. Biden goes further back with Iraqi leaders.
The continued refusal on the part of the White House to issue a statement on this matter makes it appear that the rumors are true. And that further destroys any impact Joe Biden could have in talks with Iraqi politicians.
We'll close with this from Murtada Taleb's "'Honour' crimes: Iraqi Law Means Soft Sentences for Wife-Killers" (Niqash):
Article 409 of Iraq’s penal code says that if you
find your wife in bed with another man, you can kill her and only spend
three years in jail. While tribal leaders try to find bloodless
solutions, activists say it’s time for a law change and community groups
believe it’s all about education.
Three bullets ended the life - and love story - of a
25-year-old in Basra recently. The young woman fell in love with a taxi
driver whom she had met by accident. But one day her husband arrived
home from work earlier than usual and found the pair in bed together.
The husband shot and killed his wife. Traditional tribal justice
demanded that the taxi driver pay the husband financial compensation and
also that he relocate, moving to another town.
As for the husband he gave himself up to the police. He
was sentenced to three years in prison for murder – which is the penalty
for what are called “honour crimes” in Iraq. This sentence is set by
Article 409 of Iraq’s penal code, which “reduces a murder sentence to a
maximum of three years if a man ‘surprises his wife or one of his female
dependents (who is) in a state of adultery or finds her in bed with a
partner and kills her immediately, or kills one of them’.”
One of the young woman’s friends says she told him she was
forced to marry her husband by her family in an arranged marriage but
that she never loved him. “She told me that she had asked her husband
for a divorce many times but that he refused,” the friend says.
In a conservative society, where tribal and religious
codes of conduct prevail, honour killings are not unusual. And even if a
man is reluctant to murder his own wife there are others who are
willing to do the job for him.
“My friend discovered that his wife was having an affair
with another man and he only wanted to divorce her and put an end to his
marriage,” another local man tells NIQASH. “But his brothers knew about
what the wife did. They kidnapped the wife and forced the husband to go
with them by putting sleeping pills in his food. So he inadvertently
took part in her murder.”
Two days later, the police found the woman’s body I the
Shuaiba desert, outside of Basra. This is a common thing to do with the
bodies of women slain in honour killings.
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