Simply Politics & News

[AKvetch]

This article, from a Lebanese paper, may give a hint about dividing up Iraq. Certainly changes are coming.

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Saudi Arabia speaks out against bill to divide Iraq

Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it opposed a new law that would divide Iraq into federal regions, while the beleaguered Iraqi government dismissed over 3,000 officers and deployed troops into a town reeling from a four-day sectarian bloodbath. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair vowed to keep British troops in Iraq until their "job is done" rejecting claims their presence fueled extremism at home and abroad.

Iraq's Parliament approved last week a law that allows for the country's 18 provinces to join federal regions.

Speaking after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Saudi King Abdullah Monday night, Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani told the SPA Tuesday that "the kingdom sides with all Iraqi patriotic forces that work for the country's unity."

"The Cabinet hopes the leaders of Iraq, the wise men and 'ulema' [religious scholars], appreciate that their duty is to stand against attempts at partition under whatever disguise."

Prominent Iraqi clerics from both the Shiite and Sunni communities are scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday in Mecca to hammer out a deal to stop the sectarian bloodshed in Iraq.

King Abdullah met Saturday with the clerics in the Islamic holy city of Mecca. He urged them to seek an end to the violence.

"The kingdom's solid conviction is that Iraq's unity is in the interests of the Iraqi people, and a means to regional security and stability," Madani said.

In London, Blair defended his Iraq policies when asked whether he agreed with army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt, who called last week for their withdrawal soon because they exacerbated Britain's security problems.

"Of course it's the case ... for some of those areas in Iraq, particularly where Iraqi forces now want to take control over areas, it's important we don't overstay the time we need to be there," Blair said in his weekly news conference.

"But in no sense was he saying - and neither should anybody say - that we should get out of Iraq before the job is done," Blair said.

Blair added it was "absurd" to say that the military action in Iraq or Afghanistan fueled extremism in Britain.

Iraq is in the grips of sectarian bloodshed between Shiites and Sunnis.

In the last four days, more than 60 people were killed in the Iraqi town of Balad in an apparent retaliation for the slaying of 19 Shiite laborers on Friday.

US troops, who have a large base near Balad, are helping Iraqi troops enforce a curfew and patrol the town, the US military said Tuesday.

Unidentified gunmen in police uniform, however, hijacked 13 civilian cars with their occupants at Sayyed Gharib checkpoint 7 kilometers outside Balad on Monday night, an officer at the Salaheddine provincial police headquarters said.

At least 32 people were killed Tuesday in a series of bombings and shootings across Iraq.

In the city of Basra, gynecologist Dr. Youssra Hashem became the latest female professional to be killed, a Health Ministry spokesman said. Four university students were also gunned down, Basra police said.

Malik Laftah, the head of Balad city council, told AFP many corpses were still lying in the streets and 17 mortar shells had hit the city limits Tuesday.

"No one dares move around and the Mehdi Army is controlling the town," he said, referring to the powerful militia loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr which has been accused of taking part in the attacks.

"We continue to conduct our normal patrols in the city and provide support for Iraqi security forces as they lead operations in stopping the sectarian violence in Balad," said US Army Lieutenant Colonel Jeffery Martindale.

However, he also confirmed that two Iraqi police officers had been arrested for taking part in Friday's massacre.

Iraqi police are often accused of collaborating with illegal militia, and the Interior Ministry announced Tuesday that it was to reorganize the force.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdel-Karim Khalaf told reporters that 1,228 officers had been sacked for breaking the law while nearly 2,000 more were purged from the ranks for dereliction of duty.

"This restructuring was applied this week to the leadership of the National Police," Khalaf said. "The headquarters of two divisions were dissolved and all brigades were brought directly under the commander of the National Police," he added

"The government is determined to fight the armed groups by all political or military means," the office of Premier Nouri al-Maliki said Tuesday.

The next challenge to Maliki's authority could come from Sadr's movement, which reacted with fury Tuesday to the arrest of one of its most important precinct captains, allegedly by American forces.

"US forces raided the home of Sheikh Mazen al-Saeedi, head of the Sadr movement offices in Karkh [west Baghdad] and arrested him," Hamdallah al-Rikabi, a spokesman for Sadr's movement, told AFP.

"Five other members of the office were arrested as well in a series of raids in Shuala," Rikabi said, referring to a Shiite neighborhood in northeast Baghdad. - Agencies

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=76261#