Middle East Focus: Iraq: Illusions of Secularism and Moderation, Illusions of Independence………….

Arabia Deserta

Iraq: Illusions of Secularism and Moderation, Illusions of Independence………….

“A three-judge panel on Monday threw out their candidacies, a move that could further polarize the political process. In Iraq, when you "polarize the political process," people load their guns. Already, last week, the recently quiescent Sadrist militia, the Mahdi Army, threatened to mobilize its forces after a series of bombings struck the Sadrists' Friday prayer gatherings in Baghdad. One of the candidates barred was Saleh al-Mutlaq, the leader of an independent-minded Iraqi nationalist bloc, who formed a coalition with Iyad Allawi, a former prime minister. When Mutlaq failed to get the ban lifted last February, he asked his brother, Ibrahim al-Mutlaq, to run in his place. Now, the Commission, led by Ali al-Lami and Ahmed Chalabi and strongly supported by Iran, has barred Ibrahim al-Mutlaq as well……………”

Okay, the closet Ba’athists are probably using Allawi’s ambition as a means to regain some power (the Iraqi Ba’ath is already split into two factions). They long for the good old days, when certain people, especially the Shi’as and the Kurds, knew their places- and if they didn’t, they were simply gassed.
As for al-Mutlaq being “independent minded”, this writer, Robert Dreyfuss (not the guy in Jaws I, that was Richard) should go back and read his opinions on the last Iraqi election, and on how he was strongly suspected of abetting terrorism.
Western journalists should be careful to grab at anyone and anything that claims they are “independent” or “secular” in the Arab world these days. It is an appealing idea in the midst of all the fundamentalisms; very tempting, but they should kick the tires a few times (they may end up wanting to kick something else). There are no independents in the Arab world anymore; if there were any they have all gone into exile, forced or voluntary. Some are in the prisons of the Arab regimes both moderate or radical, or are dead. The rest are bound, wittingly or unwittingly, to tribe, or clan, or religious sect (both Sunni, Shia’, Hasidic, and Episcopalian). Or the oligarchies.
Cheers
mhg

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