You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Iraq
Politicians to blame for Iraq’s sectarian strife, says Maliki
2015-01-05
Iraqi Vice-President Nouri Al Maliki, who was widely criticised for sectarian policies during his time as premier, said on Sunday that politicians are to blame for the country’s Sunni-Shia strife.
He's clearly an expert on the subject...
“There is no problem between the Sunnis and the Shias as communities, but rather between us the politicians — we think as Sunnis and Shias, and we are driving people toward this doom, for which we will bear responsibility before God,” he said.
A poor man's echo of what Egypt's Sisi said. Too bad Maliki really doesn't believe what he said...
Maliki himself pursued policies that marginalised and angered members of Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority, especially during his second term as premier. Sunni suspicion of the Shia-led government was heightened by heavy-handed security operations in Sunni areas, and the arrest of senior Sunni politicians or their employees.

Sunni anger led to anti-government protests, which were targeted by security forces on multiple occasions, most disastrously in late December 2013 when the largest protest camp, located near Anbar provincial capital Ramadi, was demolished. The destruction of the camp, which Maliki asserted was serving as a militant headquarters, sparked clashes and set off a series of events that saw parts of Ramadi and all of Fallujah, to its east, seized by anti-government fighters.

Then last June, the ISIS group — which benefitted from Sunni disenchantment with Baghdad — spearheaded a sweeping militant offensive that overran large parts of the country north and west of Baghdad. Maliki’s government turned to Shia militias, members of which were responsible for sectarian killings in past years, for support against ISIS, before he was replaced as prime minister.

Pro-government forces, now backed by a US-led campaign of air strikes, have regained some ground, but significant territory, including three major cities, remains under ISIS control.
Posted by:Steve White

00:00