Al-Maliki's U-turn

As the Iraqi prime minister tries to position himself as a leader of all factions, violence is on the increase, worries Saif Nasrawi

---

Aftermath of a car bomb in the Iraqi Christian village of Al-Hamdaniyah near the northern city of Mosul

With growing confidence after his party won the local elections, the Iraqi Shia prime minister is trying to embrace political unity in the sharply divided nation. On Friday, Nuri Al-Maliki called on Iraqis to reconcile with former supporters of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime. "We should reconcile with those who made mistakes, who were forced and obliged at one time to be on the side of the former regime during a time of hardship in Iraq's history," Al-Maliki said.

A day later Al-Maliki called for an end to the practice of distributing top government jobs along religious and ethnic lines, saying the system leads to weakness and mismanagement. He renewed his call for changes in the 2005 constitution, which he believes restricts the power of the central government to deal with national problems after nearly six years of violence. "There is a difference between sectarian distribution of posts in the government and the principle of partnership," Al-Maliki told a conference of Iraqi tribal leaders.

The Iraqi minister of National Dialogue Akram Al-Hakim said on Monday that the government has already started a dialogue with its opponents including former Baathists. But like Al-Maliki, he stressed that there will be no talk or reconciliation with Saddam loyalists "whose hands were stained with Iraqi blood", a reference to those who are accused of crimes and brutality committed by the security apparatus of the former regime or in the violence that followed its collapse after the US invasion.

But there is not much to celebrate in Al-Maliki's offer. Baathists who now live in exile or in hiding inside Iraq immediately rebuffed the offer as "a repetition of its drive of deception and lies". In a statement, the Baath Party accused the government of using the reconciliation drive to "infiltrate the party and divide its membership." Even Sunnis who participate in the government and the parliament expressed doubts about Al-Maliki's intentions and urged him to back his words with real deeds. One demand which they have been pressing is to return former Baathists to their old jobs in the government, the army and the security forces.

Iraq has passed legislation to reverse a government purge of members of Saddam's banned Baath Party instigated by US authorities following the invasion. That decision helped fuel a bloody Sunni Arab insurgency and now Sunnis want the measure to be completely abolished as a prerequisite for national reconciliation. Neither Al-Maliki nor his Shia allies are expected to allow Saddam loyalists to get their jobs back in the army or government, and that would certainly remain a hurdle to any national accord.

One reason behind Al-Maliki's gesture is the next parliamentary election scheduled later this year. The results from the provincial elections indicate that most Iraqis preferred a nonsectarian government and Al-Maliki just wants to be seen as a national leader who represents all Iraqis.

However, in a country still beset by violence, many ordinary Iraqis seriously wonder where the bottom line is. Much of Iraq's future will be determined on whether the country will be able to go back to normal after the US troops leave. US President Barack Obama has announced that he will pull out most of the combat troops by 31 August next year, a year and a half before the deadline set by the Iraqi security agreement. Although Obama promised that he will keep some "training and assistance brigades", there is some questions over consequences of the early pull-out as to whether Iraqi armed forces are in a position to maintain the fragile security and stability.

One question is if the Iraqi army and police force are able to sustain stability amid political and sectarian wrangling. Another question is whether the American withdrawal timetable provides enough time for Iraqis to forge a functioning government and an economy that benefits everyone. Indeed, it is highly questionable whether the feuding Iraqi groups and communities will be able to work together without settling some of the thorny issues facing them such as redistribution of wealth and power. If they cannot, a civil war could be the result.

It is no wonder, therefore, that February and the first week of March have witnessed an increasing number of attacks including suicide bombings after a noticeable decline in violence last year. In many parts of Iraq people have died in a series of suicide bombings, or as a result of both insurgents and police fire on civilians. In the southern city of Basra rockets slammed into the British military base Monday, killing one civilian. Many Iraqis fear that a trend of spiralling violence is expected after the American withdrawal if there is no real national reconciliation.