The Common Ills: What's Ammar al-Hakim up to?

Saturday, March 09, 2019

What's Ammar al-Hakim up to?

AFP reports:

Iraqi cleric and the leader of the National Wisdom Movement says his fellow countrymen and women reject both a permanent foreign military base on Iraq’s territory and the deployment of foreign combat forces to the Arab country.
“Iraq is a sovereign state, not a subordinate or subjugated one. In this sense, we say no to foreign military bases, to foreign combat forces, to foreign missions, to unilateral provocations, or to attacks on neighboring countries from the Iraqi territory and airspace,” Ammar al-Hakim said during a Saturday ceremony marking the 16th death anniversary of senior Iraqi cleric and political leader Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, who was assassinated in 2003 in the city of Najaf.
He added, “There is an attitude that wants Iraq to be entrenched and a prisoner of interests and narrow ideas.”

What's going on here?

Yes, as AFP notes, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's figure-head president Barham Salih and Iraq's Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi have condemned the notion of foreign forces in Iraq. But that wasn't today or yesterday. That was a month ago.

No leader in Iraq is really discussing this right now. Why is Ammar al-Hakim?

It's a popular position in Iraq. Nearly sixteen years of war and occupation has made it a very popular position. The Iraqi people have wanted foreign forces out for some time. The leaders want US forces on the ground -- usually because they fear an uprising since they aren't truly elected or representative of the people.

So is Ammar catering to public opinion? It could be that simple.

He might be making these remarks as part of the continued break with the United States government that's been going on, rather publicly, for over three years now (most publicly when he told Brett McGurk that Iraq did not need US troops) -- and with little comment from the press or so-called 'analysts.'

He was seen as friendly to the US government and there was a faction of the US government that long flirted with the thought of him as prime minister and insisted that he could unify Iraq. After the US installed Hayder al-Abadi as prime minister, Ammar's public remarks regarding US forces, the US occupation and the US government became increasingly more harsh.

So is this Ammar venting? Is this disappointment and/or sour grapes?

Possibly.

It's also true that former prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki is positioning himself for a comeback. He's leading a campaign against the current prime minister, he's rallying support within Iraq as well as outside of Iraq in an attempt to reclaim the office of prime minister.

Adil Abdul-Mahdi is proving to be very ineffective. He's showing no ability to govern. He can't even fill his Cabinet. Had the Iraqi Constitution been followed, he wouldn't be prime minister right now. The way it is supposed to work -- but never has -- is that you are named prime minister-designate and you have 30 days to then form a Cabinet. That's all you have to do to move from prime minister-designate to prime minister.

Adil Abdul-Mahdi was named prime minister-designate and then, despite failing to form a Cabinet (a partial Cabinet is not what the Constitution meant), he was named prime minister at the end of October.

We're five months later and he still doesn't have a full Cabinet.

Have you noticed the silence in the media on that?

Wonder why?

They can't sell war and be honest. That's always been the problem with Iraq. They had to lie to start the war, they had to lie to continue it.

Right now various US officials and analysts are insisting that the US must remain in Iraq because? ISIS. If defeating ISIS is so damn important, why are the security positions in the Iraqi government still not filled? Mahdi has no Minister of Interior (over the security forces) and he has no Minister of Defense (over the military).

If defeating ISIS is so damn important that US forces have to remain on the ground in Iraq and in the air dropping bombs, why is that their prime minister, five months in, still can't get a Minister of Defense or a Minister of Interior?

Adil Abdul-Mahdi is ineffectual. Nouri thinks he can sweep back in. Maybe he can. Maybe anyone could? Possibly Ammar's statements are positioning himself to step in?

That would explain this.

Hayder al-Khoei‏Verified account @Hayder_alKhoei 17 hours ago

Iraqi complains about a shameful political stunt disguised as religious tourism. Free bus service is offered to people to visit the Kadhimiya shrine in Baghdad. Mid-way through the journey, Hikma party flags are displayed & they’re taken to attend a speech by Ammar al-Hakim.

6 replies22 retweets27 likes

And earlier this week, Ammar noted that Mahdi still didn't have a full Cabinet (while insisting it would no doubt happen "in weeks") and that summer was approaching and would be the first real test for Mahdi as Iraq waits to see if he can provide "electricity and water."

Water? For years, we've been told that the dam in Mosul could collapse at any time and kill millions. When ISIS occupied Mosul, the fear was especially paraded by the press.

Did all that attention on only one dam obscure a larger problem?

Iraqi Spring Media Center

5 hrs

The warnings of the collapse of the dam "Abu Al-Flyn" in Hor Al-Huweiza - north of Basra - are still ongoing and sources confirm that it will destroy "25" thousand acres of land planted with wheat.