Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > What Little Government Iraq Has Is Disintegrating
________________________________________
What Little Government Iraq Has Is Disintegrating
By Patrick Cockburn [1] / CounterPunch [2]
May 2, 2016
The storming of the parliament building in Baghdad by protesters [3]
chanting the name of populist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is a sign that the
political system built up since the US invasion in 2003 is disintegrating.
The Iraqi security forces stood back and did nothing as the protesters burst
into the Green Zone, graphically illustrating the weakness of Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi and of state institutions generally.
The eruption by Sadrist supporters into the heavily fortified Green Zone,
the heart of government power in Iraq, came minutes after Mr Sadr ended a
press conference in the Shia holy city of Najaf during which he condemned
politicians for refusing to end the political stalemate. He has been
demanding that Mr Abadi appoint a non-sectarian government of technocrats
that would end corruption and other abuses. Since early in the year, he and
his followers have been holding mass rallies but he has previously
restrained them from invading the Green Zone, though it was always likely
that the security forces there would not stop them.
It is unlikely that Mr Sadr wanted the invasion of parliament because it
will lead to further weakening of the government rather than its reform. In
the past, he has alternated between making moderate demands, but at the same
time threatening that the anger of the people could not be contained. He
himself, symbolically, entered the Green Zone a month ago, but instructed
his followers not to follow him.
Mr Sadr comes from a family of Shia clerics that owes its iconic and almost
semi-divine status in Iraq to its long resistance to Saddam Hussein and the
Baathist regime. He was 25 in 1999 when his father, Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr,
and his two brothers were assassinated by Saddam Hussein's gunmen. They had
led a populist religious movement drawing support from the poor as well as
many tribes that had become visibly hostile to the regime in Baghdad.
Muqtada al-Sadr remained under house arrest in Najaf until 2003 when he
emerged as the leader of a movement that opposed the US occupation and
fought against it in 2004.
The Mahdi Army, that battled the US army in Najaf, later played a leading
role in the sectarian war in Baghdad in 2006-7 in which tens of thousands
died. Mr Sadr later disavowed many of his followers who carried out
sectarian killings and retired to Iran to carry out religious studies. But
on his return to Iraq, he continued to lead a political, powerful and well
organised movement that elected an important group to the Iraqi parliament
and held several ministerial posts.
There were reports of protesters leaving the Green Zone, but they may not
all go and what has happened once can happen again. Foreign embassies may
pack up and go because they fear they will be targeted next time round for
political reasons or simply as places to loot. The other danger is that
there may be units in the Iraqi army such as the elite Golden Brigade - that
might shoot down demonstrators. The other main Shia political factions are
also capable of mobilising their own militias to defend their interests,
which they see as being threatened by the Sadrists. This may lead to battles
between the different armed groups.
Patrick Cockburn is a Middle East Correspondent for the Independent. He has
written four books on Iraq's recent history-The Rise of Islamic State: ISIS
and the Sunni Revolution, Muqtada al-Sadr and the Fall of Iraq, The
Occupation, and Saddam Hussein: An American Obsession (with Andrew
Cockburn)-as well as a memoir, The Broken Boy and, with his son, a book on
schizophrenia, Henry's Demons, which was shortlisted for a Costa Award.
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Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/world/what-little-government-iraq-has-disintegrating
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/patrick-cockburn
[2] http://www.counterpunch.org/
[3]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-parliament-building
-stormed-by-hundreds-of-shia-protesters-demanding-government-reform-a7008136
.html
[4] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on What Little Government
Iraq Has Is Disintegrating
[5] http://www.alternet.org/
[6] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > What Little Government Iraq Has Is Disintegrating
What Little Government Iraq Has Is Disintegrating
By Patrick Cockburn [1] / CounterPunch [2]
May 2, 2016
The storming of the parliament building in Baghdad by protesters [3]
chanting the name of populist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is a sign that the
political system built up since the US invasion in 2003 is disintegrating.
The Iraqi security forces stood back and did nothing as the protesters burst
into the Green Zone, graphically illustrating the weakness of Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi and of state institutions generally.
The eruption by Sadrist supporters into the heavily fortified Green Zone,
the heart of government power in Iraq, came minutes after Mr Sadr ended a
press conference in the Shia holy city of Najaf during which he condemned
politicians for refusing to end the political stalemate. He has been
demanding that Mr Abadi appoint a non-sectarian government of technocrats
that would end corruption and other abuses. Since early in the year, he and
his followers have been holding mass rallies but he has previously
restrained them from invading the Green Zone, though it was always likely
that the security forces there would not stop them.
It is unlikely that Mr Sadr wanted the invasion of parliament because it
will lead to further weakening of the government rather than its reform. In
the past, he has alternated between making moderate demands, but at the same
time threatening that the anger of the people could not be contained. He
himself, symbolically, entered the Green Zone a month ago, but instructed
his followers not to follow him.
Mr Sadr comes from a family of Shia clerics that owes its iconic and almost
semi-divine status in Iraq to its long resistance to Saddam Hussein and the
Baathist regime. He was 25 in 1999 when his father, Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr,
and his two brothers were assassinated by Saddam Hussein's gunmen. They had
led a populist religious movement drawing support from the poor as well as
many tribes that had become visibly hostile to the regime in Baghdad.
Muqtada al-Sadr remained under house arrest in Najaf until 2003 when he
emerged as the leader of a movement that opposed the US occupation and
fought against it in 2004.
The Mahdi Army, that battled the US army in Najaf, later played a leading
role in the sectarian war in Baghdad in 2006-7 in which tens of thousands
died. Mr Sadr later disavowed many of his followers who carried out
sectarian killings and retired to Iran to carry out religious studies. But
on his return to Iraq, he continued to lead a political, powerful and well
organised movement that elected an important group to the Iraqi parliament
and held several ministerial posts.
There were reports of protesters leaving the Green Zone, but they may not
all go and what has happened once can happen again. Foreign embassies may
pack up and go because they fear they will be targeted next time round for
political reasons or simply as places to loot. The other danger is that
there may be units in the Iraqi army such as the elite Golden Brigade - that
might shoot down demonstrators. The other main Shia political factions are
also capable of mobilising their own militias to defend their interests,
which they see as being threatened by the Sadrists. This may lead to battles
between the different armed groups.
Patrick Cockburn is a Middle East Correspondent for the Independent. He has
written four books on Iraq's recent history-The Rise of Islamic State: ISIS
and the Sunni Revolution, Muqtada al-Sadr and the Fall of Iraq, The
Occupation, and Saddam Hussein: An American Obsession (with Andrew
Cockburn)-as well as a memoir, The Broken Boy and, with his son, a book on
schizophrenia, Henry's Demons, which was shortlisted for a Costa Award.
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Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [4]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[5]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/world/what-little-government-iraq-has-disintegrating
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/patrick-cockburn
[2] http://www.counterpunch.org/
[3]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-parliament-building
-stormed-by-hundreds-of-shia-protesters-demanding-government-reform-a7008136
.html
[4] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on What Little Government
Iraq Has Is Disintegrating
[5] http://www.alternet.org/
[6] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
