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| Iraq |
| Arrests Based on a 'Lie,' Iraqi Interior Chief Says |
| 2008-12-21 |
| Iraq's interior minister on Friday angrily dismissed reports that a group of officials from his ministry was plotting to overthrow the government and said the arrests of the men were politically motivated. "It is a big lie. The public must understand this," Jawad al-Bolani told reporters at a news conference, referring to the accusations against the men. "It was clearly motivated by politics and was not related to security." Bolani's comments came a day after an Interior Ministry spokesman announced the arrests of 23 of the ministry's officials, as well as some from other security ministries, on suspicion of attempting to reconstitute Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, which was banned after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. On Friday, the ministry's director of internal affairs said the officials would be released within days. "We will release them very soon," Gen. Ahmed Abu Raqeef said in an interview. A national police official said the men could be released within 48 hours. If true, that would raise questions about why the arrests were made in the first place. Critics of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have described them as a move to gain an advantage ahead of next month's crucial provincial elections, which could alter Iraq's political balance of power. Maliki's aides have denied those accusations. The prime minister and his Dawa party are facing competition from other Shiite parties vying for influence in Iraq's predominantly Shiite oil-rich south. His rivals now include Bolani, an independent Shiite, who recently founded his own political party. "I am in charge, and anyone thinking of trying to harm the ministry and its men has to face me," Bolani said Friday. "I do not rule out that 'outside hands' were involved in this case." |
| Posted by:Fred |