Non-Fictional Baathists Attempting Comeback

Members of Syria-based Iraqi factions attend the Baath Party's first public meeting in Damascus, dedicated to "the national Iraqi resistance." (AFP/Louai Beshara)


It is hard to determine who will make a greater come-from-behind, the Taliban or the Baath Party. Saddam's outlawed cadre has been used as a political straw man by the Shiite-dominated and Iranian-allied democratic Iraqi government since 2009. Recently, the Baath held their first public meeting in Damascus calling for a reunification of the party. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki blamed the Al Qaeda in Iraq bombing campaign in Baghdad on the Baath in Syria, a claim the Baathists denied. Maliki's accusations deteriorated relations with Syria. It will be interesting to see Maliki's reaction to this Baathist convention in Syria as he continues his attempt to steal the parliamentary election.



Saddam's loyalists in Syria blast US
Supporters of Iraq's late dictator Saddam Hussein gathered in Damascus Thursday to denounce the U.S. "occupation" of Iraq and demand that his loyalists unite. About 500 Saddam loyalists, including members of his outlawed Baath Party, vowed to continue their support to what they called "Iraqi national resistance," a term they widely use to describe Iraqi insurgents attacking only U.S. forces.


Iraq's banned Baath holds first public meeting in Syria
Iraq's banned Baath party, booted out of power in the 2003 US-led invasion, held its first public meeting in the Syrian capital on Thursday. "We have launched negotiations to reunite the party," Ghazwan Qubaissi, the number two in a wing led by Mohammed Yunes al-Ahmad, a former governor of Mosul under now executed dictator and Baath chief Saddam Hussein, told AFP.

April 20th Morning Readbook (Iraq Edition)

A paper displays photographs of a man the Iraqi government claims to be al-Qaida leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi at a news conference in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 19, 2010. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)


Two top leaders of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq are killed in raid
The two top leaders of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq were slain in a U.S. airstrike over the weekend, a decisive tactical victory for American and Iraqi forces and one that provides Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki with additional political leverage at a crucial time.


Iraq announces killing of another senior al-Qaida leader
Iraq announced Tuesday the killing of another senior leader of al-Qaida group in the country, an official television reported. "Iraqi security forces killed the terrorist Ahmed al-Obaidi, also known as Abu Suhaib, the military leader for Qaida terrorist organization in the provinces of Nineveh, Kirkuk and Salahudin," the state-run television of Iraqia, quoted Mohammed al-Askari media advisor of the Iraqi Defence Ministry as saying.


Secret prison revealed in Baghdad
Hundreds of Sunni men disappeared for months into a secret Baghdad prison under the jurisdiction of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's military office, where many were routinely tortured until the country's Human Rights Ministry gained access to the facility, Iraqi officials say.


Iraq judicial panel orders recount
An Iraqi judicial panel on Monday ordered a manual recount of about 2.5 million ballots cast in Baghdad in last month's national elections, an action requested by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's alliance, which had filed allegations of vote fraud.


The main headlines on Al Jazeera

Inside Story - Iraq's fledling democracy

Allawi Did Not Win

(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)


In spite of what many headlines have said, former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi did not win the recent election. More importantly, a recent Federal Supreme Court decision stating that political coalitions can be formed AFTER the election has in essence negated the results. Prior to this decision Iyad Allawi's secular Iraqiyah coalition would have formed the new Iraqi government.

Below are some highlights as to what is really occurring in Iraq's post-election period.


Allawi Accuses Tehran of Meddling in Iraqi Politics

Ayad Allawi, leader of the bloc that won the most seats in Iraq's parliamentary election, lashed out at Iran on Tuesday, accusing Tehran of interfering in the battle to form a new government in Baghdad.

Mr. Allawi's cross-sectarian political bloc secured a narrow victory over Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated slate in the March 7 vote, potentially upending the lock on power that the country's majority Shiites have had since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. But Mr. Allawi didn't win a majority of seats in the 325-member parliament, and is battling the incumbent to lock in enough coalition partners to form a stable government.

Representatives from Mr. Maliki's State of Law slate and from the two most influential parties inside a Shiite umbrella slate that finished third all recently visited Tehran at the same time. Iran has exerted significant political and economic power in Iraq since shortly after Mr. Hussein's ouster, when Shiite Iraqis rose to power.


Asharq Al-Awsat Talks to Iraqi VP Tariq al-Hashimi

Tariq al-Hashimi, the Iraqi vice president and prominent leader in Al-Iraqiya List led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi which won the legislative elections held on 7 March, has stated that Al-Iraqiya faced major challenges like "disqualification and Debathification" and also "the campaigns of distortion and tampering with the voters' will." He pointed out that his bloc was open to all the political forces to ally themselves with it but did not refer to an alliance with the State of Law Coalition [SLC] which is led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who rejected the results of the elections. Al- Iraqiya List won 91 seats, two seats more than Al-Maliki's list.


Iraq election: Victorious candidates may be purged, boosting Maliki

Six winning candidates in Iraq elections will be stripped of their votes and lose their seats – which would cost secular politician Iyad Allawi's bloc its narrow victory – if a federal court upholds a broad purge of candidates who are suspected of past involvement with the late dictator Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party, Iraqi officials said Monday.


Maliki is block in Iraq coalition merger talks

Maliki's State of Law (SOL) coalition is negotiating a possible union with the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), which includes anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, to form the largest bloc in Iraq's next parliament. The Sadrists' strong election showing makes Sadr a potential kingmaker.

An alliance between the two major Shi'ite parties could push former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's cross-sectarian Iraqiya coalition, the top vote-getter in Iraq's March 7 election, to the sidelines. That could anger many Sunnis who voted for Allawi and deepen Iraq's sectarian divide.


Iran 'preventing’ Ayad Allawi from becoming Iraq’s prime minister

Tehran was interfering in the election process in Iraq, where his Iraqiya bloc won 91 seats in the 325-member Council of Representatives, two more than Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Alliance, he told the BBC.

“Iran is interfering quite heavily and this is worrying,” Mr Allawi told the broadcaster, accusing the Islamic republic of inviting all the major parties to Tehran apart from his bloc.

“They have invited everybody – but they haven’t invited us – to Tehran,” he said.

Asked directly whether Iran wanted to stop him becoming prime minister, Mr Allawi responded: “I think so, they made it very clear ... that they have a red line.

“We are concerned about respecting the will of the Iraqi people.”


Iraqi commission moves to disqualify winning candidates

Six winning candidates in Iraq's parliamentary elections will be stripped of their votes and lose their seats — which would cost secular politician Ayad Allawi's bloc its narrow victory — if a federal court upholds a broad purge of candidates who are suspected of past involvement with the late dictator Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party, Iraqi officials said Monday.

November 11th Morning Readbook

U.S. soldiers make themselves plates of food during a ceremony marking Veterans Day at the U.S. Camp Phoenix in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Iraq PM says 73 arrests in Oct 25 attacks probe
Iraq has arrested 73 people suspected of playing a direct role in two massive bombs that killed more than 150 people in Baghdad on October 25, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Tuesday. They are suspected of working on the orders of the outlawed Baath party of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and included members of Al-Qaeda, Maliki told reporters in Baghdad.


Iraqi court rules Guardian defamed Nouri al-Maliki
An Iraqi court has ordered the Guardian to pay Nouri al-Maliki damages of 100m dinar (£52,000) after supporting a complaint by the Iraqi prime minister's intelligence service that he had been defamed by a Guardian story in April describing him as increasingly autocratic.


Iraq's PM warns of threat in run-up to January elections, vows to maintain security
Iraq's prime minister warns that insurgents may try to undermine the country's fledgling democracy in the run-up to January's national elections. Nouri al-Maliki told tribal leaders from Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City district on Wednesday that maintaining security was his top priority, but said insurgent groups do not want the vote to be held in a secure climate.


3 Top Obama Advisers Favor Adding Troops in Afghanistan
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton are coalescing around a proposal to send 30,000 or more additional American troops to Afghanistan, but President Obama remains unsatisfied with answers he has gotten about how vigorously the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan would help execute a new strategy, administration officials said Tuesday.


Taliban jail unearthed as troops kill nine in South Waziristan
Security forces have killed nine more Taliban in South Waziristan, the military said on Tuesday, as troops destroyed a number of caves, towers and observation posts and unearthed a private Taliban jail.


Would Taliban fighters switch sides?
The news from Afghanistan looks unremittingly bleak for the West these days. Casualties among foreign and Afghan troops are again rising, with the rancour over the fraud-marred presidential elections still in the air.


‘Nobody in Pak govt aware of Qaeda leaders’ whereabouts’
The US finds it hard to believe that nobody knows where the Al Qaeda leadership is, but there is no evidence to suggest that anybody at the top levels of the Pakistani government knows, said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.


The latest news from Al Jazeera.

Maliki's Modus Operandi

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."