Despot in Iraq?
The New York Times, November 5, 2011, pg. 18, reported: “The authoritarian tendencies of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq are well known. But the arrest of more than 600 Iraqis whom the government describes as suspected former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party and army is particularly cynical and reckless. With American troops scheduled to withdraw by year’s end, the last thing Mr. Maliki should be doing is stoking sectarian tensions.”
It is reported that the detainees — a vast majority are probably Sunnis — were rounded up after the Shiite-controlled government supposedly received a tip that former Baathists were plotting a coup. The Maliki government has yet to provide any real evidence of a plot, and the idea that 600 people were involved strains credibility. Almost everyone is highly skeptical.
It is well known that the majority Shiites were badly persecuted under Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-led government. All elected governments since the U.S. invasion have been Shiite-dominated and far more interested in payback than reconciliation.
His government is known to be rife with corruption, holds no credibility in much of what it says, has become more authoritarian, and contributes to severe shortages in public services.
The former U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority, under L. Paul Bremer III, made a stupid move when it disbanded the army and barred Baath Party members from government jobs. Nevertheless, a law passed in 2008 was intended to promote reconciliation by opening jobs to former Baathists. But it has been selective in undermining political opponents.
This leaves one conclusion of when the U.S. leaves Iraq there could be a major civil war or mass exodus of minority groups.