Opposing ethnic division
An opponent of the IGC tells Dina Ezzat why he is lobbying hard against the US-sponsored administrative body
Al-Dulemi lobbied hard in the past few weeks against allowing Houchair Zibari, the IGC- appointed foreign minister, to take Iraq's seat in the Arab League -- a move he considers to be just as bad as allowing the US military to represent Iraq. "This council represents the Americans and not the Iraqis," Al-Dulemi repeatedly asserted. While the Iraqi politician admits that his preemptive moves have failed, he is determined that his case against the IGC is far from over.
Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly in Cairo hours after Zibari was applauded into the Grand Hall of the Arab League, Al-Dulemi said that "the forces opposed to the IGC are going to hit back." He is now working to bring together what he calls "the coalition of forces opposed to the IGC" which will include 30 representatives of many Iraqi political forces. "Some of them were in Iraq under Saddam Hussein and others had to flee the country for fear of Saddam's tyranny, but they all are national Iraqis who refused to cooperate with the Americans," Al-Dulemi said.
Another 20 Iraqis, Al-Dulemi added, are planning to join this coalition in the coming few days. "These are the Iraqis who truly want to bring in democracy to Iraq but they want an Iraqi-made democracy and not a phony democracy masking US occupation." These opposition figures, Al- Dulemi suggested, feel a sense of urgency with regard to developments. "They are worried that the council is going to hijack the country to serve the US agenda in Iraq and the entire Arab world."
Al-Dulemi's quarrel with the members of the council and its appointed government is not simply because they were "hand-picked by the Americans". As he sees it, the main problem with this council is that it sows the seeds of division in Iraq. "The members were deliberately picked on the basis of religion and ethnicity," he said. Al- Dulemi believes that a government or a governing council, even if transitional, should have been chosen through some form of elections. "This is the only way to secure fair representation. Otherwise it is a game of ethnicity that is being played in Iraq." This "game", he warned, could lead to civil strife when representatives of the different ethnic groups start playing the inevitable power game of who has the upper hand.
Last Tuesday Zibari represented Iraq in the Arab Council of Foreign Ministers. The following day, Dulemi and a group of several other Iraqi opponents to the IGC met with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa for over two hours to protest against this move. "We made it very clear to Secretary-General Moussa that it was wrong to allow the council to represent Iraq in the Arab League. This is succumbing to US pressure," Al-Dulemi said. "The US is trying to earn this council legitimacy at any price. The Americans tried to get the council to take Iraq's seat in the UN but they failed. They also tried to get the council into the Organisation of Islamic Conference, and there again they failed. It was only on the vulnerable Arab front that the Americans managed to get through. This is very sad indeed."
Al-Dulemi believes that the "authorisation" the IGC received from the Arab League is responsible for the wider acceptability it is going to gain on other fronts. He does not accept the argument that it was impossible for the Arab League to turn a blind eye to the IGC since it is the de- facto authority. "It cannot be made a de-facto authority unless it is given recognition. Without recognition this council will always be the representative of the US occupation forces," he said. "There is a strong opposition in Iraq to the council and there is a sense of disappointment that the US and its allies in the Arab world allowed Zibari to get in and take Iraq's seat when in fact he was appointed by the Americans and reports to them."
Al-Dulemi believes that if the Arab League really wanted to deal with the situation in Iraq it should have at least allowed members of the political opposition to get in the Arab organisation as well. This is why he appreciates Libya's decision to boycott the Arab League meetings in protest at Zibari's participation. But he is also particularly critical of Kuwait's "un-innocent" role in giving the Iraqi seat to the IGC. "By supporting this council, the Kuwaitis have revealed their true intentions: they hate the Iraqi people and want Iraq to be divided," he said. "The Kuwaitis used to say that their grudge was against the regime of Saddam Hussein but it seems that their grudge is against the entire Iraqi people."
This said, Al-Dulemi is comforted by the league's decision to deny the IGC permanent recognition. "When we met with Secretary-General Moussa he reassured us that the Arab League is going to stick to its resolution to make representation of the council in the league temporary, and conditional on the adoption of measures aimed at restoring Iraq's national sovereignty," Al-Dulemi said. He added that the "forces opposed to the council" are going to keep a close eye on the performance of IGC until next March when the Arab foreign ministers are expected to meet to assess the council's performance.
"We are going to keep the Arab League well informed on the performance of this council." To this end, the opposition forces have informed the Arab League of their intention to open a contact bureau in Cairo. "It is very important that we do this because the council will be providing the Arab League and the Arab capitals with misleading information about the situation on the ground in Iraq," Al-Dulemi suggested.
Following his trip to Cairo, Al-Dulemi is preparing a tour of Arab countries that will initially include Doha and Damascus. He plans to hold meetings with government officials in both capitals to "express the counter point of view to that of the council". Al-Dulemi and other political sympathisers will then be going to other Arab capitals, as well as Turkey. "We are going to spare no effort to get our voice across, and when we do I am sure that things will start to improve and the US puppet council will lose its monopoly."
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 18 - 24 September 2003 (Issue No. 656)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/656/re4.htm