Next door in Iraq, an emboldened Nouri al-Maliki
waged his own sectarian campaign to consolidate power, betraying
promises to his political partners to share it around. Within days of
being welcomed at the White House and praised by Barack Obama for his
leadership, Maliki returned to Baghdad to mastermind the arrest of his principal Sunni rival, vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi.
Supported
by Iran and armed with US-made Humvees, M-16s, and M1A1 tanks, Maliki's
forces closed in on Hashimi, only to see him flee to Kurdistan. Dozens
of his guards were imprisoned on terrorism charges. At least one of them
died under interrogation.
Another Christmas purge followed a year
later, when a second prominent Sunni rival, the finance minister Rafea
al-Essawi, found his home surrounded by Maliki's US-made tanks. He fled
to the sanctuary of his tribe in Iraq's Anbar province, and was
eliminated from Iraqi politics.
-- Ali Khedery, "How Isis came to be," (Guardian).