Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, obsessed with the defunct Baath Party and avid fan of "rock, paper, scissors." (AFP/HO/File/Iraqi Pm Office Ho)There is a pattern that has developed over the year with Prime Minister Maliki. Al Qaeda in Iraq, the allegedly "strategically defeated" terrorist group responsible for most of the headline capturing violence in Iraq, has been pushed aside by Maliki for what he views as the greater threat; the Baath Party.
Having staked his reputation on bringing something resembling stability to the war-torn nation, 2009 has demonstrated that the Iraqis are back to their Saddam-era ways.
Earlier this year al Qaeda in Iraq kicked up a campaign in Baghdad. We will start in March.
Mar 10 - Suicide attack in west Baghdad kills up to 33
A suicide bomber killed at least 28 people in an attack on tribal leaders and security officials in western Baghdad on Tuesday, the second big attack in the Iraqi capital in three days.
Mar 26 - 16 Killed by Bomb in Baghdad
A bomb in a parked car exploded Thursday in a market in the Shaab neighborhood of Baghdad, killing 16 people and wounding 40, many of them women and children, the police said. Doctors at the hospital treating many of the wounded, some with severe burns, said the toll was likely to rise. It was the second major attack in the Baghdad area this week. A bombing in Abu Ghraib on Monday left at least nine dead.
Maliki blames the Baathists for the violence shortly after the King of Clubs (remember him?) releases an audio statement.
April 7 - Former Hussein Aide Surfaces; Iraqi Premier Blames Baathists for Bombings
In an audiotape, a former deputy of Mr. Hussein, who is the last high-ranking fugitive from the American forces, called for Iraqis to topple their government and return the Baath Party to power. At the same time, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki angrily blamed Baathists for a series of car bomb attacks in the capital.
Maliki decides to crack down on the Baath and al Qaeda in Iraq by arresting the Baathist leader of the Islamic State of Iraq? I'm sorry, what?
April 28 - Iraqi Premier Says Leader in Insurgency Is in Custody
BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Tuesday that Iraqi forces had recently arrested a leader of the Sunni insurgency who had been in league with members of Saddam Hussein’s ousted Baath Party.
In response to the arrest of ISI leader and Baath ally Abu Omar al Baghdadi, ISI leader Abu Omar al Baghdadi released an audio statement stating he was not arrested.
May 12 - Top al Qaeda leader in Iraq denies he was captured
Al-Qaeda's top leader in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, has denied in an audio message that he has been captured by the Iraqi authorities, a US group monitoring Islamist websites said on Tuesday. "Everyone was shocked by the lie promoted by the (Iraqi authorities) in which they claim again that they have arrested me," SITE Intelligence Group quoted Baghdadi as saying in the message issued Tuesday on jihadist websites.
ISI leader and Baath ally Abu Omar al Baghdadi's confession airs on Iraqi government television.
May 18 - Iraq TV airs alleged confession of terrorist leader
The Iraqi government released what it said was the confession of a top terrorist leader in the country Monday, nearly a month after the government claimed to have captured him. Government-run Iraqiya TV showed a news conference by Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, spokesman for Baghdad Operations Command, and a short clip of a man the government says is Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. The man in the video says that his name is "Ahmed Abed Ahmed Khamees al-Mujamaie," that he "joined al Qaeda in Iraq in 2005" and that the following year, he "became the emir [leader] of the Islamic State of Iraq," an umbrella group that encompasses al Qaeda in Iraq.
Apparently the Baathist/Islamic State gang figured out how to regrow a full head of hair. In May of 2008 (one year prior), Abu Omar al Baghdadi's name and photo were released.
Report: True Identity of ‘Islamic State of Iraq’ Leader Revealed, Photos Aired
The true identity of the leader of one of Iraq’s biggest insurgent groups has been revealed by the Iraqi police chief of the city of Haditha in an interview with Al Arabiya news station. Col. Fareq al Je’eify said Abu Omar al Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, was a former Iraqi army officer and his real name was Hamed Dawood al Zawy. He also showed the station pictures of al Zawy, whose group, the Islamic State in Iraq, includes al Qaeda in Iraq.
Fast forward to the August 19th bombings as Maliki cements his Baathist knee-jerk reaction.
Aug 24 - Iraq broadcasts truck bomber confession
Iraq has broadcast a video of a Saddam Hussein loyalist confessing to orchestrating one of two massive truck bombings that killed 95 people and maimed hundreds more in Baghdad four days ago. Former police chief Wissam Ali Kadhem Ibrahim admitted to plotting the attack on Wednesday at the finance ministry, the first of two deadly blasts on the worst day of violence seen in Iraq for 18 months.
The following day, al Qaeda in Iraq responds...
Aug 25 - Al-Qaeda's 'Islamic State of Iraq' Claims Responsibility For August 19 Baghdad Attacks
The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) has claimed responsibility for the string of high-profile attacks in Baghdad on August 19, 2009. The communiqué was posted on jihadist websites on August 25. The Islamic State of Iraq is an Al-Qaeda-sponsored umbrella group of salafi jihad organizations in the country.
So all of this brings us to today. The Iraqi forces are responsible for securing the country and are failing. The government has either stumbled across the 2002 alleged Baath-al Qaeda connection or they are torturing their own citizens into false confessions.
Nov 2 - Al Maliki warns of Baathists infiltration in Parliament
Al Maliki called upon MPs not to allow for members of defunct Baath Party to operate inside the Parliament. He asked as well the Independent High Electoral Commission to review records of candidates and inspect their relation to Baath Party.
More disturbing is this last article released today. Stories like this make me worry the Shiite plans for Sunni Arab genocide are simply on hold until the U.S. leaves.
Nov 11 - Iraqi security forces capture terrorist involved in deadly bombing: PM
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Tuesday said that his security forces arrested a terrorist allegedly involved in Baghdad deadly bombings that killed and wounded more than 600 people. "The detainee confessed that he committed the attack on the Justice Ministry with the complicity of 73 other terrorists," Maliki said in a news conference here. "Who ordered you to carry out the attack?" Maliki continued and said that the detainee answered "The Baath party did."
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