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Militants close in on Baiji and Tal Afar amid calls for Maliki to step down
[Iraq Sun] Sunni gunnies surrounded large parts of Iraq's biggest refinery in Baiji and the airport at Tal Afar as the violence-torn country's highest Shia authority called for a new government that can command respect across sectarian lines.The fighting at Baiji and Tal Afar comes a day after the US said it would send some 300 military advisers to help the Iraqi government in its fight against the krazed killers. US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... is expected to travel to Iraq soon to press for a more representative government in a move to ease tensions between the rival Shia and Sunni sects. Iraq's top Shiite holy man, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, added to U.S. pressure on Prime Minister  Nouri al-Maliki... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Maliki imposed order on Basra wen the Shiites were going nuts, but has proven incapable of dealing with al-Qaeda's Sunni insurgency. Reelected to his third term in 2014... and his political allies to form a new government that would command wider support. Sistani, who has played a key role in calming sectarian tensions earlier, Friday called for the creation of a new "effective" government in a message delivered by his representative Ahmed al-Safi in the holy city of Karbala. Prime Minister Maliki has been accused of pursuing anti-Sunni policies, angering the community. The first of the 300 U.S. military advisers are set to arrive in Iraq Saturday, a senior defense official told CNN. The first group is expected to be very small, the official said. In addition, some U.S. military personnel already in Iraq at the security cooperation office in the U.S. Embassy in Storied Baghdad may be reassigned to work with them. Posted by: Fred 2014-06-21 |
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