Update From Iraq

News from Iraqi sources is coming in at an accelerated pace, so what follows is a summary of information I received overnight, with additional published sources where we could find them.

Government Breakdown; Point of Hope

Mohammed al-Daini, one of the Members of the Iraq Parliament who wants one Iraq, the U.S. to leave on a timeline, and the oil to be managed by the central government, says there is a near complete break down of everything viz a viz the government, but he also notes that his group, the National Salvation Front, and the Sadrists are getting close to an agreement. Should his group reach an agreement with the Sadrists (see my blog about the Kurds and Kirkuk) this would give the Nationalists a majority in Parliament, which could lead to a reinvented government in Iraq. This could get us much closer to seeing an end to the violence.

Tawafuq Front to Withdraw from Parliament

The Tawafuq Front is expected to announce that they will be withdrawing their ministers from the government. The Tawafuq Front (sometimes translated as Accordance Front or the Iraq Accord Front) won 44 seats in the Iraqi general election and is the largest Sunni bloc. The announcement is expected later today or tomorrow. After this piece of news was sent, we learned that an arrest warrant had subsequently been issued for Dr. Adnan Al Dulaimi, co-chair of the Front, along with Dr. Tariq Hashimi, vice president of Iraq. Sources say that 13 warrants for 13 members of Parliament have been prepared. (Here's some background on "secret" arrest programs.)

Kurdish Regional Government Wants Changes; Move May End Political Process

A source told us that "the so-called Minister Responsible for The Disputed Provinces" in the regional government of Kurdistan announced yesterday that it intended to take very strong measures against the central government. Today, the Kurdish Alliance called for changing the name of Iraq to the Federal Republic of Iraq and also wants to define "Kurds as part of the Kurdish community and the Arabs as part of the Arab community." (See this article from AKI,) This could easily end the political process.

Experts are concerned that the Iraqi plan to relocate Arabs from Kirkuk could prompt violence and inter-ethnic tensions. One said, "turning the city into a Kurdish one overnight will only increase violence between the Kurds on one side and Arabs and Turkomen on the other." (See BBS News.)

A War Between Political Parties, Not Sects

Sheik Harith al Dhari, the religious leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars, the Sunni counterpart of al-Sistani, said that we do not not have a sectarian war but rather a war between political parties. He said that this security surge is not about cleaning about the terrorists, but about killing all who were and are in opposition to the invasion and the occupation. Al Dhari spoke at a press conference in Cairo yesterday. (See reports of the news conference here and here.)

Militia Still Active

Badie Aref Izzet, the lawyer who represented Tariq Aziz, told a Sunday Times correspondent that he had been taken by Americans to a detention/protection center after being threatened by a judge in the Anfal trial after the judge ordered his arrest. A source surmised that this indicated that militia members are still functioning within the Iraqi police force and army and are being protected in spite of arrest warrants issued for them.

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Written in collaboration with Jennifer Hicks