WASHINGTON, DC – Peace in Iraq is impossible until the legitimate grievances of the large Sunni minority have been addressed, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq said in a speech this week at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington.
He said that the Middle East region, especially Iraq, is gong through difficult times, fueled by sectarian divisions and conflicts.
Mutlaq, Iraq’s number two Sunni official and a native of Anbar province where Baghdad is waging a battle against al-Qaeda extremists, warned that terrorism is a disease that must be uprooted before it spreads to the rest of the world.
“We can play a role in helping the region get rid of the terrorism that we all suffering from, likewise with sectarianism. ” he added at the event on Tuesday.
He said Iraqis had paid a high price in fighting terrorism, and that the country’s Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds and Arabs are determined to continue the battle.
But Mutlaq pleaded for US help to continue its anti-terrorism war.
“Arming the Iraqi army is not enough on its own,” Mutlaq said. “A cohesive society also is needed to fight terrorism, and if you don’t have these two factors things will be very difficult.” He noted that, “with all its might, the American military could not defeat al-Qaida without the cooperation of the local people.”
Mutlaq also hoped that parliamentary elections due in late April in Iraq would be free and transparent, and monitored by international observers and civil societies.
He warned all sides that Iraq would not stabilize without a strong national coalition.
“We hear some loud sectarian voices undermining free elections, harming the country greatly,” Mutlaq complained. “There is a fever of escalating sectarianism, before and after elections.”
He underscored the threat of al-Qaida in Anbar province, but lamented the Iraqi government’s lack of support for legitimate grievances of Sunni citizens. Mutlaq downplayed the number of fighters in Anbar, labeling them as former military officers and Baathists.
“Many people were demonstrating for over a year in Anbar and elsewhere in Iraq, demanding constitutional rights which were never fulfilled,” said Mutlaq. “We caution everyone: If people’s peaceful demands are not respected or responded to, it will push them to resort to violence.”
He said people had helped and welcomed the Iraqi army in fighting al-Qaida, but that once the military turned its guns on peaceful demonstrators it derailed that support.
He stressed that the war in neighboring Syria is fueling the violence in Iraq, and said that al-Qaeda loyalists and fighters have no difficulty in crossing the long desert border between the two countries.
“Solving the problem of Syria would affect Iraq, but we cannot wait until that time,” he said. “If the people of Anbar are guaranteed support, they will be able to remove al-Qaida.
“Without justice, violence will spread everywhere in Iraq. The violence is not only in Anbar, it is worse in Dyala, where people have been continuously displaced,” he explained.
Mulaq blamed politicians – not average Iraqis – for fanning the flames of sectarianism, especially before elections, in order to win votes.
He said the Kurds are doing a good job of fighting terrorism in their region, but not doing much in other regions of Iraq. He added that, if Kurds continue to expand on one side and Shiites on the other, the problems will not be solved.
Jokingly addressing former US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmai Khalilzad, in the audience, he said America had come to save Iraq, but had destroyed it.
“I think you have a legal and moral responsibility to Iraq,” Mutlaq said. “You came to remove the Saddam regime, a dictatorship regime... and in fact, instead of doing that, you destroyed a country, not only the regime.”
Multaq also criticized the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for independent oil exports that did not go through the central government in Baghdad.
In later remarks to the Daily Beast, he defended Baghdad’s recent arms purchases from the United States and Russia.
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