July 22nd, the Islamic State of Iraq issued a recording with a series of threats. Among the threats were to disrupt Iraqi life, specifically the government, and to work towards freeing prisoners.
In less than a month, this al Qaeda in Iraq affiliated group has had quite a success. They contributed to making July the deadliest month in Iraq in two years, as Alsumaria noted. They downed an Iraqi military helicopter. And last week,they attacked a Taji prison in an attempt to free forty people imprisoned as terrorists. Following a bombing at the gate (possibly using as many as six suicide bombers according to one press account), they attempted to storm the prison resulting in the deaths of at least five security officers and another twenty-seven injured. And Friday, AFP reported, "At least 50 people, among them 37 members of the security forces, have been killed in violence in the first three days of August, which have seen a number of attacks on soldiers, police and anti-Al Qaeda militiamen, and their facilities."
While they're progressing at their stated goals, progressing at a fast clip, Iraq remains mired in a political stalemate. Baghdad's experiencing a scarcity of water, Basra is seeing regular protests over the lack of electricity and Iraqis are really hoping that the temperature drops down to 111.2 degrees Fahrenheit. You read that right, 111 degrees would be a serious drop from the temperature in Iraq of late.
Last week, Richard Weitz (World Politics Review) explored the continued stalemate:
A
power-sharing agreement brokered in November 2010 at Erbil among Iraq's
key political actors was meant to establish a balanced coalition
government, in which key executive branch posts were to be distributed
among the main parties in rough proportion to their electoral strength. A
newly created National Council for Strategic Policy was also meant to
broaden representation in policymaking beyond the cabinet. The resulting
checks and balances, it was thought, would prevent the government from
adopting extreme positions by requiring compromise policies acceptable
to all the major stakeholders.
Since then, however, Maliki's critics claim he has ignored the Erbil agreement, instead accruing excessive power, bypassing the Iraqi constitution and bringing under his personal control the country's other political institutions, including the judiciary, federal agencies and the nominally independent election and integrity commissions and central bank.
He has also placed many key national security posts in the hands of his supporters, appointing many senior police, military and intelligence officers without parliament's approval, while seeming to exercise undue influence on their activities. The judgments of the supposedly neutral Constitutional Court also consistently favor the government.
Furthermore, Maliki and his allies have blocked the creation of the aforementioned strategic council in parliament and refused to hold referenda in governorates whose provincial councils were seeking to become federal regions to increase their autonomy from Baghdad.
Since then, however, Maliki's critics claim he has ignored the Erbil agreement, instead accruing excessive power, bypassing the Iraqi constitution and bringing under his personal control the country's other political institutions, including the judiciary, federal agencies and the nominally independent election and integrity commissions and central bank.
He has also placed many key national security posts in the hands of his supporters, appointing many senior police, military and intelligence officers without parliament's approval, while seeming to exercise undue influence on their activities. The judgments of the supposedly neutral Constitutional Court also consistently favor the government.
Furthermore, Maliki and his allies have blocked the creation of the aforementioned strategic council in parliament and refused to hold referenda in governorates whose provincial councils were seeking to become federal regions to increase their autonomy from Baghdad.
Nouri al-Maliki can't deliver on basic needs, can't deliver on a national identity, can't deliver on security. Friday, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) pointed out of the violence, "The unrest coincides with an emerging political crisis, with Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political blocs increasingly at odds in the fractious legislature. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is Shiite, has struggled to forge a power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security."
Nouri can't deliver.
And maybe the US media should be paying attention?
That recording the Islamic State of Iraq issued on July 22nd? It included a threat to do terrorist attacks on US soil.