Al-Amiri and his allies seek the help of foreign embassies to calm the atmosphere with Al-Sadr

POSTED ON[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] BY [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[size=52]Al-Amiri and his allies seek the help of foreign embassies to calm the atmosphere with Al-Sadr[/size]

[size=45]Translated by Hamid Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]A British report stated that the leader of the Al-Fateh Alliance accused the British ambassador in Baghdad, Mark Bryson Richardson, of his country being behind the political crisis, indicating that the leaders of the coordination framework listened to American advice, with the help of foreign missions, to calm the atmosphere with the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr.[/size]
[size=45]A report by Middle East Eye, translated by Al-Mada, stated that "the leader of the Al-Fateh Alliance, Hadi Al-Amiri, received at the beginning of this month the British ambassador, Mark Bryson Richardson, who accepted Al-Amiri's invitation to meet with him, after several meetings held by politicians from the Al-Fateh Alliance with ambassadors." and foreign diplomats in the country.[/size]
[size=45]The report added, "Al-Amiri and his followers in the coordinating framework and in their efforts to find a way to form a new Iraqi government, were seeking the opinions of foreign embassies in this regard." He pointed out, "All these meetings were conducted in a very friendly manner, but Bryson Rygardson's meeting on April 2 with Al-Amiri was somewhat tense." The report revealed that “the leader of Al-Fateh accused the British ambassador of continuous interference in political affairs, claiming that there was intelligence information about British attempts to destabilize the Iraqi political situation.”[/size]
[size=45]A source close to Al-Amiri described the meeting, according to the report, as heated, and said that “the leader of Al-Fateh spoke directly about a British-led conspiracy to extract power from the Shiites.” The report stated, "The accusation is that Britain was encouraging Muqtada al-Sadr and his allies to form a majority government in which several other Shiite parties would be marginalized and a new political order would be imposed in Iraq."[/size]
[size=45]He stressed, "The political parties in Iraq have been accustomed since 2003 to form a government on the basis of quotas, in which each winner of the elections has a share in the government." The report continued, "The performance of the Al-Fateh Alliance was weak in the last October elections, while the Sadrist movement won the largest percentage of seats, which gave it the strongest opportunity to form a government." He explained, "Shiite leaders said that the current situation is not seen as a loss of influence for large Shiite parties, as much as it is an issue of existence."[/size]
[size=45]The report pointed out that "these parties accuse Britain and the United States of encouraging al-Sadr and his Sunni and Kurdish allies to proceed with this policy, which they say Washington and London have been planning for years." A leader close to Al-Amiri stated, according to the report, that "this project is not new, but the British have finally found someone to ally with them and implement it."[/size]
[size=45]The leader added, "The meetings of Al-Fateh leaders with other ambassadors were intended to ask some of them to stop their support for Al-Sadr and his allies, and to warn them of the consequences of proceeding with such a project." He pointed out, "The inevitable result of the project adopted by Al-Sadr is civil war and division, and then everyone will pay the price, and the damage will not be limited to Iraq only." The report spoke of “the success of the coordination framework in forming the blocking third of parliamentarians, which prevented a required quorum from being obtained in the parliament to vote on a new president for the country, which in turn opens the door to forming a new government.” And he found, "This comes from their fear of losing the influence of their parties, along with the economic benefits of participating in power." The report added, "Al-Sadr abstained from the political scene for 40 days, expressing his displeasure with this disruption, directing his opponents to the fact that they could try to form a government during this period instead of him. Despite this, Al-Sadr insisted on his pledge to form a majority government." He added, "Al-Sadr's followers and supporters describe his plan to form a majority government as a broom through which corruption can be removed and the Iraqi political process purified. As for his opponents, they tend to liken his plan to a clay pot made of fragile ceramic pieces that can easily crumble if it is exposed to a disturbing matter." The report quotes a prominent Shiite leader saying, "The project aims to control the chaos that has been stuck for a long time, by replacing dozens of leaders of armed factions and organized crime gangs that currently control the political and security scene in Iraq with one leadership."[/size]
[size=45]The leader, whose name was not revealed, continued, "Al-Sadr is the right person to play this role in his quest to eliminate corruption and armed manifestations." This comes at a time when leaders in the coordination framework revealed, according to the report, that “the United States proposed to the leaders of the Shiite alliance to communicate with embassies and foreign missions to moisten the atmosphere and prepare the way for negotiations with Sunni and Kurdish blocs.” A leader close to al-Maliki believes that "things have become very complicated and everyone has been moving slowly for months, and none of the conflicting parties has been able to impose their project, in order to break the deadlock and negotiate according to the provisions of new participation." The leader added, "The situation needs an international initiative or some way out to ease tension and break this political stalemate." He called, "All local, regional and international players to reconsider their position to achieve this. We believed that approaching foreign diplomatic missions to resolve the situation is required and inevitable."[/size]
[size=45]And the report went on, "US embassy officials refused to comment on this allegation upon request."[/size]
[size=45]About Middle East Eye[/size]
[size=45][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]