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| Iraq |
| Iraqi Politicians Disagree Over Security Plan |
| 2007-02-22 |
| Iraqi politicians representing various groups have conflicting views on the way that the security plan announced by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, called the "Law Enforcement Plan" is currently being implemented. According to independent Kurdish politician Mahmud Uthman, the "crisis is more political than military or security" and pointed out that "there are disagreements between the Iraqi politicians and religious leaders. The solution lies in a national dialogue that brings together all the Iraqi political and religious blocs." He told "Asharq al-Awsat" yesterday, "The security plan is not important anymore since the majority of those accused or wanted because of the security problems left Iraq or withdrew temporarily from the street so as to resume their activities when the stringent security measures being implemented now, and which might achieve limited success, are eased. Things might return to more than they were before the security plan's implementation." The member from the Kurdish bloc in the Iraqi Houses of Representatives (parliament) added: "Iraq needs real national reconciliation instead of military plans and disagreements between the political and religious blocs must be ended." He noted that "some politicians who are in the government praise Muqtada al-Sadr while Tariq al-Hashimi, who is a vice president, wants Al-Mahdi Army to be categorized a terrorist organization that should be pursued. This is what is happening inside the government so imagine how things are happening outside it." Uthman went on to say: "Just imagine. Details of implementing the security plan were not discussed, either in the House of Representatives or the cabinet, except for some broad outlines and in general terms because the government knew that the problems and disagreements would emerge once the implementation started. Not a single person discussed the means of implementation." The Kurdish politician talked about "breaches in the implementation of the security plan, human rights violations, and measures to remove weapons from the Arab Sunnis", adding that "there are even disagreements between the American and Iraqi armies. The American forces arrest citizens for reasons that differ from the ones used by the Iraqi forces for arresting citizens." Adnan al-Dulaymi, leader of the Iraqi Al-Tawafuq Front, accused those implementing the plan of sectarianism and said: "We backed this plan but did not discuss it in detail in the hope that it would achieve stability and security for the Iraqis. But mistakes and breaches appeared from the start of its implementation. These include random night raids and removing from houses licensed light weapons that are for the purpose of self-defense. All these practices are applied in the areas where the Sunnis live and therefore the plan lacks fairness in implementation." He noted that "the plan prohibits the arrest of persons without an official warrant and in the presence of witnesses from the area but, unfortunately, this did not happen." |
| Posted by:Fred |