Indefensible by Hensman Rohini;

Author:Hensman, Rohini; [Hensman, Rohini]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781608469123
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Published: 2018-04-23T04:00:00+00:00

In August 2014, Sunni tribal leaders offered to share with the US military information concerning hostages, ISIS supply routes, and recruitment efforts – on condition, however, that the US deal directly with them rather than the Iraqi government. ‘The US needs to work hand in hand with the Sunnis that have on-the-ground intel[ligence] and that are being targeted by ISIS,’ said a spokesman, but at that point, the Obama administration refused because it was pressing for the creation of an inclusive government (Pecquet 2014). By December 2015, however, as Sunni tribal leaders renewed their lobbying, arguing ‘that Iranian influence runs deep in Baghdad and that Abadi’s hands are tied,’ they were heard with much more sympathy by lawmakers of both parties (Pecquet 2015). US pressure on the Iraqi government to rein in Iran-backed Shia militias and to incorporate Sunni fighters in battles for predominantly Sunni areas paid off in the liberation of Ramadi from ISIS, which was achieved by the Iraqi army backed by US airstrikes (McLeary 2015). This was a boost to the morale of the Iraqi army (Economist 2016), even while it provoked bitter complaints from the Iran-backed militias (Press TV 2016a).

It was clear by then that the Dawa Party was deeply split. Ali Mamouri (2015) summarised the division: ‘Abadi’s bloc wants to preserve close relations with the United States, keep some distance between Baghdad and Tehran, avoid hostile relations with Saudi Arabia and bring about national reconciliation, including good relations with the Kurds and Sunnis.’ Maliki’s bloc, on the other hand, ‘has explicitly aligned itself with Iran, is hostile toward Saudi Arabia and the United States to the extent of suggesting Abadi approach Russia and is unwaveringly pro-Shiite, including backing for Shiite militias’. Sistani supported Abadi, while Maliki moved decisively into the camp of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This alignment was revealed when Abadi and Sistani condemned the mass killings of Sunnis, and the terrorist attacks on Sunni mosques and businesses in Diyala Province, by Iran-backed Shia militias after an ISIS suicide bombing of a cafe popular with Shi’i militia members in Muqdadiyah (HRW 2016a, Rudaw 2016a, DPA 2016). Tension between the two factions of Dawa surfaced in a joint statement by the Iran-backed Hezbollah Brigades, Badr Organization and League of the Righteous, all part of the Popular Mobilization Units, calling on the government ‘not to seek help from US forces’; a spokesman for Abadi responded in an interview that ‘the stance of the Iraqi government vis-à-vis US troops and the international coalition lies in the framework of communication and coordination in the war against terrorism,’ while Abadi later made it clear that this did not include clearance for US ground troops (Saadoun 2015).

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