WIKILEAKS REVELATIONS:Iraqi Sunnis and secularists say there is nothing new in the documents, writes Michael Jansen
IRAQI PRIME minister Nuri al-Maliki has said the release of the WikiLeaks documents was timed to torpedo his drive to form a government eight months after parliamentary elections.
A statement issued by his office angrily denounced allegations that he was tied to Shia death squads that slew Sunnis during the sectarian conflict of 2006 to 2007. The statement denounced publication of the material as “media games and bubbles motivated by known political goals”.
Although a government spokesman admitted that human rights violations had taken place, Maliki’s office argued that Iraqi security forces, operating under his command, were bound by the rule of law and did not take part in communal conflict.
Commenting on detailed descriptions of incidents where US troops killed Iraqi civilians, the statement criticised the US military for adopting “permis- sive” rules of engagement that had led to a “crisis” between Baghdad and Washington. His office pledged to investigate charges levelled in some of the 400,000 documents. “We need to take these documents into consideration in order to achieve justice for our citizens.”
Maysoun Damlouji, spokeswoman for the Iraqiya bloc that won a plurality of assembly seats in the March election, said the material shows why it is necessary to have a powersharing government in Iraq.
She said: “Putting all the security powers in the hands of one person [Maliki] has led to all these abuses and torture in Iraqi prisons.” Iraqiya, headed by Mr Maliki’s chief rival for the premiership, Ayad Allawi, is also trying to form a government.
Jamal al-Battikh, another Iraqiya member, said: “In our dialogue with all the other blocs, we have demanded the disbandment of the security agencies that have caused violations of human rights.”
Iraqi Sunnis and secularists, who have suffered most from abuse and torture, pointed out that the documents do not present new information. Sunni politician Omar al-Jabouri remarked that the documents give force to accusations that his community has been making for the past four or five years.
Commentators pointed out that in April of this year a special armed forces unit operating from the prime minister’s office was found to be in charge of a secret Baghdad prison containing 431 Sunni detainees, many of whom had been tortured.
Analysts have also criticised Maliki’s recent alliance with radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose armed followers were blamed for violent excesses at the height of the sectarian conflict.