Cynical games

The president and prime minister of Iraq face off with the future of Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi nation enlisted as political backdrop, writes Nermeen Al-Mufti

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US marines backed by fighter planes and helicopter gunships in an offensive in which 12 resistance fighters were killed

The recurring sentence I hear while collecting information for every new story I write is, "they messed everything up." Who are they? The answer differs from one to another. The police accuse the resistance, the Iraqi National Guard accuses the terrorists, average Iraqis accuse the Americans; the educated say it's the political parties and those exiled "Iraqis" who came back with the Americans. The last has some sting of truth, more than apparent during the National Assembly's sessions. Assembly members, who are confined to the Green Zone, seem to represent no one but themselves or their special list.

The 72nd session of the National Assembly had to be postponed twice because of the absence of the majority of legislators. It was finally held at the beginning of the week, only to expose the disorder, not to contain it. Two weeks before the referendum on the new Iraqi constitution will be held, Iraq's interim President Jalal Talabani launched charges against interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, triggering a political crisis between the two factions that make up the transitional government. Talabani accused Al-Jaafari of having contravened the pact he had earlier concluded with the Kurdistan Alliance. The accusations came via a joint letter co-signed by Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional confederation.

Talabani accused the Shia-led United Iraqi Alliance, which holds the majority in parliament, of monopolising power in the government and refusing to move ahead on a key issue for Kurds: the re-settlement of Kurds in the northern city of Kirkuk. He also accused the government of failing to fairly distribute government positions to Kurds, and of neglecting ministries run by Kurdish officials.

The political crisis stepped up when a spokesman for Talabani, Azad Jundiyani, declared on Sunday: "The time has come for the United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdistan coalition to study Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari's stepping aside from his post." "This is for the benefit of the political process," he added. Asked if the Kurds would withdraw from the government if the Shia alliance does not back them in removing Al-Jaafari, Jundiyani said, "we will wait and see." Talabani has made indirect threats to withdraw from the coalition if Kurdish demands are not met.

Jawad Al-Maliki, a Shia legislator and a leader in Al-Jaafari's Daawa Party, denounced the call: "It is not beneficial for Iraq, especially during this period of time because the country is heading to a referendum and elections." Mohamed Al-Salihi, a political science professor, sees the call as part of pre-election political jostling. He told Al-Ahram Weekly, "the Kurds know they are not going to stay a majority in the next National Assembly, so they began wooing the Sunnis on one side, while allowing minor amendments on the drafting constitution." "On the other hand," Al-Salihi added, "the Kurds now are trying to get as much as possible from their Shia counterparts."

In another development, in an attempt to undermine the Sunni community's ability to derail the draft constitution, the Shia-dominated government decided to introduce a new reading of a provision in the transitional administrative law that states that if a two-thirds majority in at least three provinces reject the draft it would be deemed to have failed. Parliament, which has only 16 Sunni members, approved an interpretation stating that two-thirds of registered voters -- rather than two-thirds of all those who cast ballots -- must reject the constitution for the result to apply.

Increasing frustration can be felt in Iraqi streets. Mohamed Ali, a taxi driver who lost his taxi in an explosion in Baghdad says, "Al-Jaafari is violating our rights. Why did the president not ask him about our rights; who is losing everything through daily explosions and attacks?" Indeed, the interim government has not lived up to its pre-election promises of bringing security and prosperity to Iraqis. Since "elected" President Talabani swore that he would be the president of all Iraqis, not just Kurds, the interim government has violated many laws and many rights, beginning with the Iraqi people's right to basic services, such as electricity and potable water. Yet President Talabani only criticised the interim government when Al-Jaafari insisted on postponing resolution to the Kirkuk issue.

Meanwhile, Al-Jaafari is getting prepared for the December elections. In his opinion, the best way to get the Iraqi respect is to start the trial of Saddam Hussein. "Five magistrates will try Saddam Hussein," an Iraqi Special Tribunal source said without identifying the judges. Saddam and seven of his former officials are due to go on trial on 19 October for the killing of 143 Shia Muslims in the village of Dujail, north of Baghdad, in 1982, following an attempt on his life there. "If he is sentenced to death we will not wait for another trail," Al-Jaafari spokesman Laith Kobba said in a previous press conference.

"Saddam's trial date is scheduled for 19 October and it is not possible to postpone this case which has already been pending for too long," an official statement quoted Al-Jaafari as telling tribal sheikhs in Baghdad. Saddam's Iraqi lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, has requested a delay, claiming that his client's rights have been systematically violated throughout the so-called "legal process". Concerning a potential delay, a source from the Iraqi Special Tribunal responded: "That depends entirely on the judges. The tribunal is totally independent."

Many balk at the suggestion. Sabah Al-Ani, professor of law, told the Weekly : "The Iraqis will continue to suspect the Special Tribunal of being set up by the Americans in order to serve Bush's agenda. We all know what Saddam did against the Iraqis, yet the Iraqis should try him only when Iraq is not under occupation. Otherwise, he should be presented to an international body."

Most salutary of all this week, while Talabani has been kept busy with the demands of fellow Kurds, and Al-Jaafari with his own future manoeuvres, the Americans began a new military operation -- dubbed "the iron fist" -- against the western Iraqi village of Sadah, 10 kilometres from the Syrian border. For all the political fuss in the Green Zone, occupation forces continue attacking Iraqis here, there and wherever without any approval from Iraqi officials, or the participation of Iraqi forces, and yet President Talabani is conspicuously silent about the laws such actions violate. One is left wondering if indeed there are any, under the occupation-friendly transitional framework agreed upon by the last US- installed cabal of liegemen.