Maliki replacement as succession tensions ease in Baghdad

Iran embraces Maliki replacement as succession tensions ease in Baghdad

By Adam Ashton and Mitchell Prothero

McClatchy Foreign StaffAugust 12, 2014 
2014-08-12T16:47:53Z
By Adam Ashton and Mitchell Prothero







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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki speaks during a press conference with the Sunni Speaker of Parliament Salim al-Jubouri, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, July 26, 2014. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
HADI MIZBAN — AP


BAGHDAD — Iran joined the United States on Tuesday in embracing the appointment of Haider al Abadi to be Iraq’s next prime minister, denying support to defiant incumbent Nouri al Maliki’s bid to retain power.
Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni signaled his backing of Abadi through his national security representative, who told Iranian state media that Iran supported the process Iraq’s Parliament used to choose Abadi as its leader.
Iran’s support is crucial for any national Shiite Muslim leader in Iraq, and Iranian officials have stepped in previously to keep Maliki in office. A broad alliance of Shiite political parties chose Abadi as their leader, ignoring Maliki’s quest to retain his office.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington noted that Iran’s backing of Abadi left Maliki little room to maneuver.
“Maliki cannot remain in the premiership in defiance of every other Shi’a party, militia and Iran,” the analysts wrote.
The comments came a day after Iraqi President Fouad Massoum named Abadi as Iraq’s next prime minister and gave him 30 days to form a new government. Maliki on Monday accused Abadi of a power grab and indicated he’d fight Abadi’s nomination.
Maliki’s tone changed significantly on Tuesday, however. He released a statement in which he told the military to “stay away from the political crisis,” which eased fears that Maliki would use the armed forces to keep himself in power.
Abadi, meanwhile, moved to form a cabinet within a week. He released a statement praising Maliki’s leadership and said that Maliki would have a continuing role in the government.
The statement did not say what kind of position Maliki would have.
Elsewhere in Iraq, U.S. forces launched another airstrike against an Islamic State mortar position that reportedly was firing on Kurdish forces protecting Yazidi families who had fled militants in Iraq’s Sinjar province. It was the 14th airstrike in northern Iraq reported by U.S. Central Command in the past five days.
A New York Times reporter was injured Tuesday in Sinjar province when a helicopter in which she was a passenger crashed. The Times reported that Alissa Rubin suffered a concussion and broken wrists.
The crash killed the helicopter pilot. The helicopter had delivered emergency assistance to refugees and retrieved some Yazidis who have been trapped on a mountain since the Islamic State seized their village last week.
The United Kingdom on Tuesday enhanced its military presence in Iraq, announcing a plan to send several surveillance aircraft to the Mediterranean nation of Cyprus. The Tornado jets will be tasked to gather intelligence that would support the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Iraqi refugees, the Defense Ministry said.
In Baghdad, at least two car bombs exploded, killing a dozen people, according to Al Arabiya News.

Despite the fighting, political tensions calmed noticeably in Baghdad from the previous two days. On Sunday, Maliki had mustered a cadre of elite troops to guard the city’s International Zone while accusing his political enemies of constitutional violations.
His actions set off fears that he’d use military force to stay in power even as Iraq’s military is fighting Sunni extremists in the Islamic State across its northern and western provinces.

On Tuesday, far fewer Iraqi soldiers and police were out patrolling the streets, and military and political leaders sensed that Maliki was preparing to step down.
Khameni’s embrace of Abadi mirrored the American government’s hopes for the prime minister-elect. President Barack Obama on Monday congratulated Abadi and praised Massoum for selecting him.

Secretary of State John Kerry at a Tuesday news conference said Abadi’s appointment could lead the U.S. to commit more assistance to Iraq, short of deploying combat troops.
“We are prepared to consider additional political, economic and security options as Iraq starts to build a new government and very much calculated to try to help stabilize the security situation, to expand economic development and to strengthen the democratic institutions,” he said.

One senior Kurdish security official, whose forces have been battling the Islamic State along multiple fronts for nearly two weeks, welcomed the apparent decision to move forward without Maliki in selecting a new prime minister.

“Thank God, it looks like this Maliki nightmare is over,” the official said, asking not to be quoted by name because he did not have permission to comment from Kurdish President Masoud Barzani’s office.
“Moving forward will mean more assistance from the Americans, but it will also give new leadership and a sense to urgency to the Iraqi army,” the official said. “Resolving the succession issue will allow the Iraqi army to get back to work.”

The official said that as the crisis has unfolded, Iraqi army officers have appeared distracted and uncertain about how to proceed because of Maliki’s tight control over the military and uncertainty about how unified the government would remain.
“These distractions particularly hurt us in Diyala province, where we coordinate more with the Iraqi army than we do in the north,” he said, a reference to a region of eastern Iraq where on Monday the Islamic State captured the town of Jalawla. “Territory was lost along that front, I think, because the Iraqi army seemed unsure about its leadership situation.”

Aymenn al Tamimi, an analyst of Iraqi jihadist groups and militias for the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, noted that Iran’s patience with Maliki had been wearing thin in recent months as Iraq’s security forces suffered embarrassing defeats to the Islamic State.
“Iran certainly did not want to see a third of the country fall outside of government control and understands there needs to be some consensus in Baghdad to move forward,” he said.

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