Wednesday, 17th February 2010
Democracy crumbling in Iraq
The Iraqi election campaign began last week against a background of dirty tricks, murder, corruption, blackmail and intimidation. While smiling politicians beamed down from scores of freshly-hung posters around Baghdad and the other main cities, what should have been a cause for celebration, as Iraqis ushered in a new era of freedom and democracy, has in fact descended into violence and anarchy.
A free and fair Iraqi election on 7 March is an illusion.
Instead of seeking the support of ordinary voters for their political parties or policies, Iraq’s ruling elite seem determined to destroy rather than defeat their opponents. While the West must have some patience with a country that is re-discovering democracy after 50 years of dictatorship, the current situation is abhorrent and has cast a dark shadow over the legitimacy of the entire election process.
Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic were alarmed when the hybrid Justice and Accountability Committee in Baghdad announced in early January that it had decided to expel 511 secular and prominent politicians from the election. The reason given was that the committee had new evidence that all 511 were either criminals or had past associations with the banned Baath Party of Saddam Hussein. No evidence has been produced.
One of the key figures named on the blacklist was the prominent Sunni political leader and secular politician Dr Saleh al-Mutlak, a member of the Iraqi parliament. He was twice before cleared to stand for election, was one of the authors of the new Iraqi Constitution and contender for Iraq’s next Prime Minister. But Dr al-Mutlak has been a constant critic of Iran and it was widely suspected that his expulsion and that of others was at the direct request of Tehran.
There is no doubt that the Iranian regime is using its power and influence in Iraq to disqualify from the electoral process anyone it sees as an opponent.
Such was the concern about the possible de-stabilising impact on the election process that US Vice President Joe Biden flew to Baghdad in late January, in an attempt to resolve this potentially explosive issue. At the time, his efforts, together with forceful representations from the European Parliament, seemed to have paid off. The Iraqi Appeal Court announced that they had quashed the ban by the Justice and Accountability Committee and that all 511 candidates could now stand for election.
This ruling infuriated the mullahs in Tehran and their pro-Iranian allies in Baghdad. The ink was barely dry on the Appeal Court’s judgement when senior aides of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced that it was “illegal and unconstitutional” and that the government had decided to over-rule their own judges.
So the descent into anarchy continues. Bombings and murder have become a familiar part of the election landscape. Only this week a candidate from Iyad Allawi’s party, who has formed a coalition with the banned Dr Saleh al-Mutlak – was shot dead in the street, in the northern city of Mosul.
Having cleared the field of all opponents, the political leadership in Iraq now looks set to form a Shi'a-dominated pro-Iranian government following the 7 March polls, paving the way for the final acquiescence of Baghdad to the will of Tehran.
It is certainly not in the interests of other countries in the Gulf to see this happen or to see the fascist mullah regime in Iran emerge as the leading power in the region. But while the West continues to pour taxpayers’ cash into Iraq to help with the massive task of reconstruction, the shaky democratic foundations are already crumbling to dust and a bleak future beckons.
