Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who is facing an arrest warrant that has plunged the country into political chaos, accused Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister of behaving like Saddam Hussein.
The bloodshed is almost certainly designed to exploit a security vacuum after the end of the US presence
Mr Hashemi, a member of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority who has fled to the autonomous Kurdish region, spoke to US magazine Foreign Policy before a wave of bombings that killed at least 72 people across the country.
Mr Hashemi in the interview accused Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, of taking control of all key institutions and of enjoying support both from Iran and the United States.
"Many of Saddam's behaviours are now being exercised by Maliki unfortunately," Mr Hashemi was quoted as saying.
"The judicial system is really in his pocket," he said.
Mr Hashemi said that he has not seen any results from US efforts to mediate an end to the crisis, which broke out just after US forces completed a withdrawal and ended the controversial mission that started with the 2003 invasion.
"Maliki is very much adamant about running this country in a very bad and tough way, and there's no way that we will reach any sort of solution in the foreseeable future," Mr Hashemi said.
A five-member judicial panel on Monday issued a warrant for Mr Hashemi's arrest on terror charges. Mr Hashemi says that the charges are politically motivated and that he would accept trial before a court in Kurdistan.
More than 72 people were killed on Thursday in a wave of bombings across Baghdad as Iraq headed towards a seemingly inevitable sectarian conflict within days of the departure of American troops.
At least 16 separate blasts struck mostly Shia neighbourhoods of the city, though some Sunni areas were also hit. The attacks ranged from "sticky bombs" to fully-loaded car bombs, some doubled up to ensure emergency crews were caught by the second blast, a common tactic of Sunni insurgents.
No comments:
Post a Comment