Maliki's Mass Arrests: Thwarted Coup or Power Grab?

[tekisui]

Source: Foreign Policy

The New York Times reports that 35 Iraqi interior ministry officials have been arrested over the past few days for attempting a coup. The officials, including four generals, had allegedly been planning to reconstitute Saddam Hussein's Baath Pary. The officials were arrested by an elite counterterrorism unit that reports directly to prime minister Nuri al-Maliki. According to the Times, "the involvement of the counterterrorism unit speaks to the seriousness of the accusations."

Maliki's opponents, particularly Sunni political leaders, accuse him of using the arrests to consolidate power. Prominent followers of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have also been detained in recent months.

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/10593

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Hard to believe there could have been a coup with US troops still in Iraq

I don't think they would have stood by while tanks rolled down the streets, etc.

[tekisui]

2. It looks to me like a purge of his political opposition a month before

elections.

That is just my initial reaction, though the story is still new.

[bigtree]

13. I think U.S. troops encouraged this by arming all sides

. . . didn't they?

[Billy Burnett]

3. Attempting a coup against the coup.

Truly Orwellian.

[pinto]

4. (more at) '35 Iraq Officials Held in Raids on Key Ministry' (NY Times)

looks like a confusing situation all around

35 Iraq Officials Held in Raids on Key Ministry

<snip>

Rumors of coups, conspiracies and new alliances abound in the Iraqi capital a month before provincial elections. Critics of Mr. Maliki say he has been using arrests to consolidate power.

But senior security officials said there was significant evidence tying those arrested to a wide array of political corruption charges, including affiliation with Al Awda, or the Return, a descendant of the Baath Party, which ruled the country as a dictatorship for 35 years, mostly under Mr. Hussein. Tens of thousands of Iraqis died or were persecuted, including Mr. Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, by the Baath Party. It was outlawed after the American invasion in 2003.

While most members of the Baath Party were Sunni Muslims, as Mr. Hussein was, those arrested were a mix of Sunnis and Shiites, several officials said. It was unclear precisely how many Interior Ministry officials were detained.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/world/middleeast/18iraq.html?_r=2&hp

[SpiralHawk]

5. "You are either with me, or against me." - BushCo Republicon Puppet Maliki

[Javaman]

6. He's attacking them before they can attack him...

sound familiar?

it's a political round up. nothing more, nothing less. he's trying to consolidate power.

[NashVegas]

7. Insurance

Nipping something in the bud before it had a chance to grow and get out of hand.

[tekisui]

9. Some Democracy they have there.

:eyes:

[NashVegas]

11. Indeed

[Doremus]

8. Pay no attention: Everything's just wonderful in Iraq

[madokie]

10. I'd vote for it being a power grab as it stands now

with more info I may change my thinking though.

[tekisui]

12. Here is a bit more on some of Maliki's moves:

(snip)

He said there could be more arrests. Some of those under arrest belonged to the now-illegal party under Mr. Hussein’s government. Mr. Maliki’s office declined to comment. But one of his advisers, insisting that he not be named because he was not authorized to speak, said the detainees were involved in “a conspiracy.”

The Ministry of the Interior is dedicated to Iraq’s internal security, and includes the police forces. The ministry has a history of being heavily infiltrated with Shiite militias, though it has improved considerably over the past two years.

A police officer, who knows several of the detainees but spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said they were innocent, longstanding civil servants and had little in common with one another. Those who once belonged to the Baath Party were lower-level members, he said, insisting that the arrests were politically motivated.

Interior Minister Jawad Kadem al-Bolani, who has not been implicated and is out of the country, has his own political ambitions and has been expanding his secular Iraqi Constitutional Party. Iraq is a nation where leadership has often changed by coup, and as next month’s provincial elections approach, worry about violence is increasing. So are accusations about politically charged detentions.

The counterterrorism unit said to be involved in these arrests is alleged to have conducted a raid this summer on the Diyala provincial governor’s office, during which an employee was killed and a provincial council member, one of the few Sunnis Arabs on the council, was arrested.

At a later protest against the arrest, several other Sunni politicians were detained. A number of politicians who follow the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, and who have set themselves up as political rivals to the prime minister, have also been arrested over the past months and charged with terrorist activities.

Anxieties about the government’s treatment of political enemies were also raised this week as the American military, as part of the recently approved security agreement, turned over to Iraqi custody on Monday 39 senior officials from the Hussein government. Some have been convicted already and others are scheduled to stand trial, the United States military said in a statement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?hp


Looks more and more like a power grab to me.

[madokie]

15. It does to me too

Every thing that is happening in Iraq now is more reasons for bushco's asses to be hauled before the ICC. I'll leave off the rest of my spiel because I know it has to be getting tiresome for some.:-)

[malaise]

14. Power grab n/t