US Leaders say Iraq's Nouri al-Maliki should step down



 Written : Mohamed Abdel fattah

Jun 19, 2014

 The U.S. has advised senior officials in Iraq that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki must step down.

There is a growing sentiment in Washington that Nouri al-Maliki is part of the problem.

The story comes a day after President Barack Obama met with congressional leaders to talk about what the United States may do to slow down and stop Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) troops as they take city after city on their way to Iraq's capital Baghdad

Maliki, a Shiite strongman whose sectarian policies had marginalized Sunnis throughout his eight-year rule, he has refused calls for his resignation as government forces continue to battle Sunni militants attempting to take control of the biggest oil refinery in the crisis-hit country.

Mr Maliki's spokesman, Zuhair al-Nahar, said the west should support the Shia-led government's military operation against al-Qa'ida splinter group Isis  instead of calling for a change in government.

On Thursday, when asked if Maliki should step aside, Obama said: "It is not our job to choose Iraq's leaders, but I don't think there is any secret that, right now at least, there are deep divisions between Sunni, Shia and Kurdish leaders."

He said the White House had told Maliki that "as long as those deep divisions continue or worsen" the central government would be unable to stem the sectarian crisis engulfing the country.

Mr. al-Maliki has asked the United States to launch airstrikes against the al Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL] that has gained a foothold in northern Iraq.

During a televised press conference Thursday, President Obama announced that he will be sending up to 300 military advisers to assist Iraqi security forces. He noted that the "best and most effective response" to the insurgents threatening Iraqi security will be a partnership with local Iraqi forces.

According to Independent , An Iraq politician who did not want to be named said , there is a constitutional way of getting rid of Mr Maliki when the Iraqi parliament meets before the end of June. It must choose a speaker and a president who will then ask a member of the largest party to form a government. It is unlikely that Mr Maliki would be chosen Prime Minister as other parties unite against him.

Maliki's has faced widespread dissatisfaction from the nation's sizable Sunni and Kurdish minorities, which led ISIS’s rapid advance in Iraq’s Sunni areas has as much to do with resentment over al-Maliki’s Shi‘ite-centric policies as with military might.

ISIS, whose fighters only number in the low thousands according to most estimates, has been joined by other radical Sunni groups, as well as disgruntled tribal leaders and former members of Saddam Hussein ’s ousted regime.

Sources

times.com

independent.

theguardian

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