March 02, 2010Iraq’s Al-Maliki Accuses Neighbors of Financing His Opponents
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused unspecified neighboring countries of funding his opponents in this month’s parliamentary elections.
Al-Maliki said in a British Broadcasting Corp. interview that parties competing against his State of Law coalition in the March 7 vote were getting financial assistance from Iraq’s neighbors and from farther afield. The comments on the BBC’s Arabic-language channel were reported today on its Web Site.
The prime minister of Iraq’s Shiite Muslim-led government criticized Saudi Arabia, a majority-Sunni Muslim country, for not sending an ambassador to Baghdad. “If they want to improve relations, they are welcome; if they want to keep the rupture, they are free to do that,” he said.
The U.S. military commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, last month accused Iran of seeking to influence the outcome of the Iraqi election. Saudi Arabia vies for influence in the region with Shiite-led Iran, which fought a 1980-1988 war with neighboring Iraq when it was ruled by Saddam Hussein. The minority Sunnis dominated Iraq under the Baath Party of Hussein, whose regime was a check on Iran’s power in the region.
Odierno said Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi had links to Iran. Chalabi is chairman of a body that successfully disqualified hundreds of Sunni and secular Shiite election candidates opposed to al-Maliki, based on alleged ties to the Baath Party.
Al-Maliki, in the BBC interview, said his country welcomes good relations with Iran, while not seeking an alliance with the country’s ruling clerics.
Iranian Influence
The Iranian influence in Iraq since the overthrow of Hussein is a major concern for Saudi Arabia and the other U.S.- allied Sunni Gulf monarchies, said Theodore Karasik, head of research at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.
“For Saudi Arabia, the fact that this government is there and is trying to twist this election to stay in power is a concern because that maintains Iranian influence right up to its borders,” Karasik said in a phone interview.
The Obama administration is counting on the vote, the second parliamentary election since the 2003 U.S. invasion, to further stabilize Iraq as American combat troops prepare to begin their withdrawal in August. The pullout will leave a residual force of about 50,000 trainers and advisers that the U.S. plans to withdraw by the end of next year.
APnews
