"Interpol enters hunt for fugitive Iraqi vice president Tariq al-Hashimi" May 09, 2012
BAGHDAD - The international law enforcement agency Interpol stepped squarely into a bitter political and sectarian fight Tuesday when it responded to a request for help from Iraq to arrest the country’s fugitive Sunni vice president on charges he ran death squads inside Iraq.
I initially bought into the political charade offered by the agenda-pushing media thinking it was all Iraqi politics; however, I now believe this guy did exactly what the Iraq government claims. He was one of the U.S intelligence assets or tools; otherwise, Interpol would go get him.
The move will probably add fresh tensions to relations between Iraq’s Shi’ite leadership and leaders in Turkey, where the Iraqi vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, has been staying with the apparent blessing of the Turkish government since he fled his refuge in northern Iraq last month.
See?
Iraqi authorities want Hashimi returned to Baghdad, where judges are waiting to prosecute him on terrorism charges....
Iraqi authorities unveiled a litany of accusations and an arrest warrant against Hashimi last year, just a day after the last US soldiers withdrew from Iraq, touching off a destabilizing political crisis between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his political opponents from Iraq’s Sunni minority.
Related: Occupation Iraq: Divide and Conquer
Gee, who would want to that?
Those tensions have eased somewhat, but Hashimi’s case is still an open wound in political circles here.
I'm more concerned about the open wounds of Iraqis, but be that as it may.
Also see: Sectarianism Splitting Iraq
Except "Maliki has weathered the crisis well, increasing his popularity among his Shi’ite base and even among some Sunni tribes."
Someone wants you to believe that false cover of sectarian propaganda, dear readers.
His trial in absentia, due to start last week, was delayed after Hashimi’s lawyers asked that his case be transferred to a higher court.
As he traveled from Qatar to Saudi Arabia to Turkey in recent weeks, Hashimi has said he wants to fly back to Iraq to prove his innocence but that he has no confidence he could get a fair trial in Iraq’s politically pliable justice system.
So this guy is wandering around Middle Eastern capitals and no one.... sigh.
Tuesday’s note by Interpol, known as a “red notice,’’ is not an international arrest warrant and stops well short of requiring Turkey, an Interpol member, to take Hashimi into custody. But it is expected to increase pressure on Turkey to take action against Hashimi.
Oh, thanks for clearing that up.
At the very least, it could keep him in Turkey by making it more difficult for him to cross international borders.
“It is a powerful tool that will help authorities around the world locate and arrest him,’’ Interpol’s secretary general, Ronald K. Noble, said in a statement.
(Please excuse blog editor until he stops laughing)
A spokesman for Hashimi said in Istanbul on Tuesday that Interpol’s note came as a surprise, according to the Anatolian News Agency, and that Hashimi’s legal advisers would evaluate the situation before making a statement.
I'm sure it did.
His office has said he will return to Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdistan region, where he had been staying since fleeing Baghdad in late December.
Turkey will continue to provide any necessary assistance to Hashimi during his legal ordeal, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said while on a visit to Rome on Tuesday.
“Mr. Hashimi has been to Turkey both regarding his health issues and also for meetings in light of the recent developments,’’ Erdogan said in a joint news conference with his Italian counterpart, Mario Monti....
Also see: Monti the New Mussolini
Whole continent has gone fascist if you haven't noticed.
The Hashimi case and its resulting political shock waves have become sources of public discord between Iraq and Turkey, undermining an important economic relationship.
What a muddle the whole region is, what with Turkey being at war with Kurds, Kurds being used by western intel against Iran, but all joined economically, blah, blah, blah.
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"Iraqi official’s lawyers decry ruling, quit" May 21, 2012
BAGHDAD - Lawyers for Iraq’s fugitive Sunni vice president, who is accused of running death squads, quit the case Sunday in protest after judges rejected their request for evidence for his defense.
The development underscored Tariq al-Hashemi’s assertion that he will not get a fair trial on the charges he denies and says are politically motivated. The case threatens to paralyze Iraq’s government by fueling simmering Sunni and Kurdish resentments against the Shi’ite prime minister, whom critics accuse of monopolizing power.
“It became clear that there is a hidden political decision to incriminate me,’’ Hashemi said in a statement after the court adjourned Sunday afternoon. “The judge became my adversary.’’
He said his “basic rights and guarantees of the defendants’’ have been violated.
At the outset of the trial’s second day, Hashemi’s defense team demanded to be allowed to pull his phone records and appointment calendars to help rebut testimony that the vice president and his son-in-law had ordered bodyguards to kill security and government officials.
Their aim was to prove that Hashemi had been out of the country or not in communication with the bodyguards at the time he allegedly ordered the assassinations.
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"President urges end to political discord
BAGHDAD - President Jalal Talabani on Saturday urged the nation’s bickering factions to resolve the political dispute that has gripped the government for nearly six months, warning that the crisis threatens to split the country (AP)."
And who would benefit then?
"Edict may aid embattled Iraq leader:" ASSOCIATED PRESS June 04, 2012
BAGHDAD - An Iranian-based Shi’ite Muslim cleric published a religious edict on Sunday that could undermine efforts to unseat the Iraqi prime minister and also signaled Iran’s growing influence over Iraq’s politics.
Yeah, what a concern when you consider the proximity. Now imagine Iran having a beef with the close connections and cultural ties between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I now ask if you are as tired as me of the the Zionist-driven bulls*** showing up every morning disguised as a newspaper?
The ruling was issued by Ayatollah Kazim al-Haeri, spiritual mentor of anti-American Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
In recent weeks, Sadr has aligned himself with opponents of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is facing mounting allegations from members of his broad unity government of Shi’ites, Sunnis, and Kurds that he is monopolizing power.
Sadr split after making Maliki king?
Also see: Sunday Globe Special: Iraqis Unite!
Who would want to keep them apart?
The prime minister’s critics are trying to gather enough backing to bring him down with a no-confidence vote in Parliament.
In a religious ruling published Sunday, Sadr’s spiritual mentor, Haeri, who lives in Iran, said it is forbidden to vote for secular politicians in Iraq’s government - an apparent reference to Maliki’s opponents.
Sadr’s followers hold 40 seats in the 325-member Parliament and are part of the ruling coalition.
Their support would be crucial to any attempts to unseat Maliki in a no-confidence vote.
Later Sunday, despite the edict, Sadr issued a statement calling on Maliki to step down.
“I have to tell him, ‘Do the right thing and announce your resignation, for the sake of a nation that just needs a few crumbs to live on and for the sake of partners who only need partnership,’ ’’ Sadr said in a statement.
Despite the strident tone of the statement, it appeared unlikely Sadr would go against the wishes of his spiritual mentor.
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Also see: Hussein’s former personal secretary hanged
You know, that's their business. This is all their business, and I'm sick of the U.S. meddling in every damn country on the face of the planet (save a couple of atolls and an exceptional one located in the same reason that will remain unmentionable).
BAGHDAD - Opponents of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have failed to muster enough support to bring him down in a vote of no confidence, Iraq’s president said in a statement posted on his website Sunday.
The U.S. gambit failed.
Maliki, a Shi’ite, faces a growing challenge from Sunni and Kurdish parties as well as other Shi’ites within his unity government who accuse him of monopolizing power.
Except "Maliki has weathered the crisis well, increasing his popularity among his Shi’ite base and even among some Sunni tribes."
The way I see it, readers, is you can buy the little fart poot of truth that escapes from the mouthpiece media from time to time, or you can buy the everyday drumbeat of conventional myth and scripted propaganda.
But Maliki also has allies such as President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, whose office must affirm that a petition for a no-confidence vote has enough signatures.
Oh, he's got a Kurd ally, too?
Talabani’s refusal to ratify the no-confidence campaign’s letter is a setback for Maliki’s opponents, although the constitution gives them other ways of trying for the vote.
Oh, I think it is clear who is behind the effort to oust Maliki.
Related: Occupation Iraq: The Founding Father of Modern Iraq
Yeah, we wrote the f***ing thing!!!
That is an ODD TERM, isn't it? Coalition rebels. I'm having a hard time getting my head around that one. Gotta be Sadr's guys, right?
Talabani has close ties to Iran, which has been using its leverage in Iraq to keep Maliki in place. Divisions among his opponents may also be undercutting the no-confidence push.
I was just wondering if Iran has invaded and smashed the place and occupied it for eight years. Is that the kind of leverage they mean?
The failure to obtain a no-confidence vote averts an immediate political blowup but perpetuates the sectarian-based deadlock paralyzing the country.
And CUI BONO, 'eh?
In the latest violence....
Oh, yeah, that.
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Gee, even the AmeriKan media forgot about Hashimi and now he has "escaped" again.
