As Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attempts to get Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi arrested and Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq stripped of his office, his attacks on his political opponents is a repeat of 2010.
Then he used the Justice and Accountability Commission (whose term had already expired and shouldn't have even existed) to keep political opponents from running by declaring them "Ba'athists." Nouri created his own political slate State of Law partly due to the ongoing problems he has with his political party Dawa. State of Law came in second in the March 2010 parliamentary elections, Iraqiya came in first. While State of Law was a chance for Iraqis to continue the sectarian divide in the country, Iraqiya was a mixed slate. Offered the chance to go with more of the same or to go with a unified Iraq, Iraqi voters went with the latter allowing Iraqiya to come in first -- even after Nouri huffed and puffed and got some of the votes changed after the election.
What should have happened next is clearly outlined in Iraq's Constitution. Ayad Allawi heads Iraqiya. He should have been named prime minister-designate and given 30 days to put together a government. But Nouri didn't want to give up the post of prime minister.
For eight months, the country was deadlocked, in a political stalemate, The White House could have done something. Sadly, they did. They backed Nouri.
They ignored the will of the Iraqi people and then trampled on the Iraqi Constitution.
With the White House behind him, with the full force of the US government behind him, Nouri was able to bluster and bluff and bully. The man who the country didn't want as prime minister was allowed to continue as prime minister because Barack Obama backed him.
In November of 2010, he was named prime minister-designate after the US strong-armed political blocs into going along with it (a variety of promises were made, outlined in the Erbil Agreement which Nouri quickly trashed). He was then moved to prime minister despite his inability to name a full Cabinet.
Iraq, over a year later, still has no Minister of National Security, no Minister of Interior and no Minister of Defense.
Nouri refused to name those posts. Instead, he controls them. It was a power grab.
And the power grab has continued.
Fresh from face-time with Barack, Nouri returned to Iraq this month and began targeting political enemies.
The signs were always there.
The US has long known of Nouri's secret prisons and of the torture that takes place. Last February, reporters were kidnapped in Baghdad in broad daylight by Nouri's forces and then tortured. The US government chose to look the other way.
Nouri announced months ago his intent to fill the Justice and Accountability Commission with State of Law appointees.
That should have been alarming. That committee isn't supposed to exist. In 2007, Nouri pledged (part of the White House benchmarks) to work on reconciling the Iraqi factions and that included bringing Ba'athists back into the process. He never did that. He never kept his word.
He is a thug, a liar and a tyrant.
The Iraqi people stood up to him at the ballot box in 2010. Barack Obama overrode their wishes and inflicted Nouri on them for four more years.
Back in Feburary of this year, Nouri was worried about the so-called "Arab Spring." He was afraid he might be swept away. So he made a 'promise' that he would not run for a third term. All the press outlets repeated it as fact. A month ago, his attorney began telling the press that nothing prevents Nouri from seeking a third term.
The roots to today's political crisis run deep.
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Illustration is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "I See Ba'athists."