Saddam’s cousin ‘Chemical Ali,’ moments before
his hanging: From mass killer to political football.
Trying to make sense of Iraq’s political scene is a daunting challenge at the best of times, let alone before a major round of national elections.
With the control of the National Assembly at stake and the United States wanting to keep the situation as free of American fingerprints as possible, this weekend we translated two articles from the Iraqi press to help illustrate the scene.
The first article headlined Chemical Ali and the Unfolding Fraud of Iraq’s Elections, an editorial from Iraq’s Kitabat newspaper, reflects how politicized everything in Iraq has become. Focusing on the execution of Saddam’s cousin, Ali Hassan Al-Majid, and the latest round of bombings at three popular Baghdad hotels, the editorial shows the chaos and intense jockeying for power in the Iraqi capital. By executing a mass murderer of Kurds just before national elections, opponents of Prime Minister Maliki charge him with currying favor with Kurdish parties threatening to bolt from his fragile coalition.
The Kitabat editorial says in part:
In one of his dumber moves, great fool and prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, hurried to announce news of the execution of Ali Hassan Al-Majid [aka/Chemical Ali], in order to divert the attention of the Iraqi street from the bombings of “Bloody Monday.”
There are many “inconvenient” questions about Iraq’s crippled political arena:
— Are these bombings further proof that the upcoming elections [March 7] are a deception, and that rather than actual poll results, what will be announced is the first press release of the new junta?
— Are Baathists and Saddamists really behind Monday’s bombings? Or is it Iran, which is struggling to escape international pressure over its nuclear program? Tehran may have wanted to keep the Americans busy and buy time, as well as create political chaos to further disconcert and confuse Iraqis clinging to power – and those who want it?
— If “Baathists and Saddamists” are behind these explosions, were they somehow aware of the timing of Al-Majid’s execution, carrying out a pre-emptive act of revenge?
— If the Baathists didn’t know the timing of Al-Majid’s execution, and it was really them who carried out these operations, that would means that … the next few days would see a series of bloody surprises, as revenge for the execution of a “member of the Revolutionary Command Council”!
Then, in the second article on the Iraqi election, headlined Iraqi Leaders Can’t Hide Purpose of Biden’s Visit, columnist Fatih Abdusalam of the Azzaman newspaper complains of American meddling in the issue of “de-Baathification” and efforts by Iraqi leaders to hide it. This issue really wrankles Sunnis, since most of the candidates that have been ruled Baathist and therefore ineligible are Sunni.
For Azzaman, Fatih Abdusalam writes in part:
It’s easy to understand why U.S. and Iraqi authorities would want to justify Biden’s trip with something other that the crisis over de-Baathification – particularly considering that Iraq is a sovereign country with its own government, parliament, prime minister and president, and above all, despite the attempts by surrounding countries to appear disinterested. Why has such political timidity [over Biden’s visit] suddenly descended on Iraqi officials? … Is it simply shame over implementing an American decision in regard to a political process that has already cost so much blood?
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