MICHAEL JANSENtalks to some opponents of the government in Baghdad now living in exile in Damascus
SEVEN YEARS after the fall of Iraq’s Baathist regime, Baathist, Arab nationalist and independent dissidents based here are plotting the downfall of the its replacement.
This alliance between the present crop of Iraqi dissidents and Syria is ironic. During the period when Iraq was governed by the Iraqi Baath, its bitter rival the Syrian Baath hosted incumbent premier Nuri al-Maliki, his competitor for the top job, Ayad Allawi, and other opponents of Saddam Hussein.
But since Saddam’s overthrow, secular Damascus has backed opponents of the current Baghdad government, straining relations with Iraq.
On April 10th, opponents of Baghdad, including representatives of at least two armed resistance groups, convened in Istanbul and on the 29th, one wing of the Iraqi Baath party – now outlawed in Iraq – held its first public gathering in Damascus. This faction, led by Muhammad Younis al-Ahmad, a former governor of Mosul, is seeking to unite with the wing led by Ezzat Ibrahim al-Duri, Saddam Hussein’s deputy, who is believed to be in hiding inside Iraq.
Following a deadly attack on ministries in Baghdad last August, Mr Maliki castigated Syria for hosting Iraqi rebels and demanded the extradition of former officials, including Mr Ahmad, blamed for the bombings, the first in a particularly devastating series of strikes.
Khalid al-Maeny, civil engineer and political scientist, said he and other Iraqi exiles seek to establish a “national political movement” to work “against the occupation as political resistance” and “save Iraq”. He stated, “There are many [Iraqi] technocrats in Syria, independents who do not belong to any party, who are interested in joining in the struggle in Iraq”.
In his view, the US occupation has failed at all levels. The military failed because of armed resistance and Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar oppose a US political presence once it withdraws its troops. “After seven years there is no real government and the economy is in very bad shape” due to corruption, Dr Maeny stated. “I believe the Iraqi people will continue political resistance.”
His group is prepared to work with Baathists but “we will not repeat the Baathist government. We refuse all religious parties. We don’t want [Sunni] al-Qaeda or [Shia] Muqtada al-Sadr. We want to separate religion and state . . .
“The first stage is reconciliation. We must forge a new national, political contract and substitute military resistance with a political project.”
He said the sectarian constitution of 2005, written under US auspices, had produced only “violence and division”.
Biblical scholar Fadhil al-Rubaiee said, “What’s going on in Iraq is the beginning of a big quake in the area.” He said only unity would prevent the dismantling of Iraq and neighbouring states. He held that the post-war “political process is at a dead end. Iraqis were deluded into thinking the [March parliamentary] election would bring change. The question of who is next prime minister is a detail. We are drowning in details.
“The very existence of Iraq is in danger . . . A national conference should be called and Iraqis should prohibit division or federalism and insist on a secular state for all its citizens.” Unfortunately, Mr Rubaiee observed, “There is no political will for such an effort.”
But if Iraqis fail to unify, he said the country will fall apart. “The Kurdish region will be divided between Turkey and Iran, the western Sunni area will join Jordan, and the southern Shias will unite with Shias in Saudi Arabia. Nubians in Egypt will secede and North Africa will be dismantled. Sunnis will be led by Turkey, Shias by Iran. There will be two Arab worlds and two Islams.”