Receding hope

While the Iraqi parliament goes into recess, the Iraqi people's suffering sees no let-up, writes Nermeen Al-Mufti

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The news from Lebanon has pushed Iraq into the background, and yet the crisis continues in the war-torn country. Sectarian killings are becoming a fact of daily life. So imagine the disappointment of Iraqis when their parliament went into recess. Hasan Thabet, an engineer who now drives a taxi, had a word or two for the country's parliamentarians. "It seems that the members of parliament are pleased with the security situation in Iraq, especially at night. We, the taxi drivers, sometimes spend two or three nights waiting for our turn to fill up with gas. The deputies spent many sessions discussing their salaries and the salaries of their bodyguards, but held only one session to examine the case of Abir Al-Janabi, the woman who was raped by a United States (US) soldier before she was killed, along with her family. The deputies are enjoying their vacation as if they live in another country, or let's say another planet."

A member of parliament, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the recess is a constitutional right and that parliamentarians who went abroad did so to learn more about parliamentary life in other countries. I pointed out to him that the parliamentary recess may be a right in a normal country, but not in one where 50 civilians or more are killed every day. He said that several deputies decided to continue to work, despite the recess.

A source close to the government said that some ministries may eventually be moved outside Baghdad. A cabinet reshuffle is widely expected in September, and rumour has it that the ministers of interior, defence, trade, and oil will be replaced.

News reports say that if the security situation deteriorates any further, former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi will form an emergency government in the country. Dr Janan, an expert in domestic policy, says that Allawi should have joined forces with the Iraqi Alliance or Reconciliation Front when he was in power, instead of promising Kirkuk to the Kurds. Allawi made several errors of judgment, Dr Janan added, and yet his transitional government was the most reliable among the governments set up by the occupation forces. Had the Alliance List and other groups entrusted Allawi with security matters, the country would have been better off.

Some press reports claim that the Americans have foiled a Baathist coup d'état. Ali Al-Hudeithi, who was a general in the disbanded army, discounts the reports. "The Americans are trying to shift the blame for the mess in this country. That's why they keep accusing former officers of conspiracy. I don't think that anyone is planning such actions. But Iraq needs a strong government that is capable of ending the sectarian tension before we have a civil war on our hands. Personally, I am against a military or a religious government. But what is happening in Iraq had been planned before. The occupation forces and those who came along with them have been silencing anyone who speaks of a conspiracy. And yet the conspiracy against this region has become only too clear after the barbaric attack on Lebanon and Palestine. What matters now is that the Iraqis understand the dimensions of that conspiracy... The Iraqis have heard [US Secretary of State] Rice in her recent press conference saying that one individual or two will remain in Iraq in the end and will achieve democracy."

Secretary Rice admitted in her news conference that the Iraqi forces bombed homes and buildings and have killed 100,000 Iraqi civilians so far. Mohamed Arab, a PhD student researching US foreign policy, says that the White House is solely interested in safe borders for Israel and in re-drawing the regional map that dates back to the Sykes-Picot agreement. "The strange thing is that the United Nations is watching in silence, as if it has become a tool in the hand of the White House."

In July alone, 1,350 Iraqi civilians were killed. In Mosul in northern Iraq, gunmen clashed with the security forces and controlled the city for more than six hours last Friday. Police sources said that five policemen and four gunmen were killed. Sources at the Mosul General Hospital said that medical staff received at least 20 bodies. Ammar Said, who was on his way home from Irbil, said that he spent Friday night and Saturday along with dozens of Mosul inhabitants held up at a roadblock outside the city that had been placed under curfew.

As for daily life, it is becoming not only hazardous but more expensive. The price of one gas cylinder is approaching $20 in Baghdad, and even more in the countryside. The price of bread has gone up as a result. And the government is unable to provide enough supplies to meet the food rations.