A Comprehensive Strategy Against Terrorism - Nouri al-Maliki

A Comprehensive Strategy Against Terrorism : Iraq is using all the political, economic, and military tools at its disposal in its effort to defeat al Qaeda.
BY Nouri al-Maliki – FOREIGN POLICY

FEBRUARY 18, 2014 – BAGHDAD — When al Qaeda and other terrorist groups attacked Anbar province in late December and temporarily took control of parts of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, “This is a fight that belongs to the Iraqis.”



Indeed this is our fight. More than two years after American troops left Iraq, with violent extremist groups such as al Qaeda resurgent, Iraq accepts that it is our responsibility to defeat them militarily, to isolate them politically, and to create the social and economic conditions that will deny them any local support in the future.

While the battle against al Qaeda in Anbar province is Iraq’s fight, it is part of a larger struggle against terrorism that threatens our neighbors in the Middle East and North Africa and also endangers the United States and the entire world community. The terrorism we face is transnational in nature, and defeating it will require international collaboration, including a strong partnership between the United States and Iraq. As President Barack Obama emphasized in his State of the Union address, we need to work together as partners to “disrupt and disable” terrorist networks. Both the United States and Iraq, then, have much to gain by making the shared effort against our shared enemies.

In order to defend and rebuild our country, Iraq needs American equipment and American know-how, as well as private investment in our own country and strategic coordination in our region. Such common efforts against common enemies in pursuit of common goals are the object of the Strategic Framework Agreement that the United States and Iraq signed before the withdrawal of American troops in 2011.

Iraq is not a protectorate; we are a partner. Iraqis are grateful to the U.S. troops who served in our country, some of whom made the ultimate sacrifice. But today Iraq is a sovereign country that does not need American boots on the ground.

In that spirit of partnership, I want to share the thinking behind our efforts to defend our country against terrorism. Over the last decade, the Iraqi people and their elected leaders have learned many lessons. We understand that a purely military approach will not succeed in stopping terrorism, much less in healing the sectarian, ethnic, and regional rifts that are exploited by violent extremism.

US 'may plot assassination of Al-Maliki'

US 'may plot assassination of Al Maliki'
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/09/12/10244335.html
09/12/2008 06:28 PM By Basil Adas, Correspondent

Baghdad: Americans, increasingly resenting recent moves by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, could seek to topple or even assassinate him, says a secret report by a Kurdish political party, which is part of the national government.

The report, which Gulf News has seen, says Al Maliki does not want to see any US soldier in Iraq after 2011 and he preferred strong political, economic and military relations with the Americans but not the presence and influence of the US military in his country.

The latest US resentment stem from Al Maliki's strong stance in the current talks to reach a strategic security agreement between the two countries, the report said.

"Al Maliki has started to undermine the influence of those in the Iraqi military and security commanders who are classified as proteges of the Americans. This has raised concerns in the US military command in Baghdad. The freezing of the powers of the Iraqi Army's chief of staff, Babakir Zebari, is the first indication of this trend," the report said.

According to the report, the US suspects Al Maliki of getting closer to Iran in order to launch a broad military operation in Basra, Al Sadr City in Baghdad and Maysan province, in preparation for a complete withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

The report said the statement of Shiite leader Moqtada Al Sadr about converting most of the Mahdi Army into a social and cultural organisation, named Al Mumahidun, is part of the Iranian game.
According to the report, the US is weighing three options.

The first is to topple Al Maliki in parliament and bring vice-president and leader of the Islamic Supreme Council, Adel Abdul Mahdi, into power. Mahdi, according to the US, is more pragmatic than Al Maliki. He enjoys the support of Shiite leader Abdul Aziz Al Hakim. But this option may not hold as Al Hakim and Mahdi are both considered close to Iran as well.

The second option is to pressure Al Maliki to resign. But this is difficult as he heads an elected government.

The third option is an assassination attempt against Al Maliki with the help of terrorist groups, and to put in place a puppet administration favourable to the Americans.

AL-MALIKI DENIES BACKING OBAMA'S WITHDRAWAL PLAN

www.chinaview.cn
2008-07-20


Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

BAGHDAD, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki denied that he has released statements backing a plan of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama which sets a timeframe for possible U.S. troops withdrawal from Iraq, the government's spokesman said on Sunday.

Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement that Maliki's statements to German magazine Der Spiegel "have been misunderstood and mistranslated and were not conveyed accurately regarding the vision of Senator Barack Obama on the timeframe for U.S. forces withdrawal from Iraq."
Dabbagh explained that Maliki backs an Iraqi vision of pulling U.S. troops based on Iraq's security needs and on talks with Washington, the statement said.

On Saturday, Der Spiegel released an article, quoting Maliki as supporting Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should withdraw from Iraq within 16 months.

"U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes," the German magazine quoted Maliki as saying.

Dabbagh highlighted that statements made by any member of the Iraqi government, including Maliki, should not be understood as showing support to any U.S. presidential candidate.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/20/content_8587634.htm

Some militias are better than others, deux poids deux mesures...

The Turkmen region in Iraq, known as TURKMENELI, is indicated in blue on the map below

Turkmens are opposed to Kurdish hegemony over their ancestral lands, therefore peshmerga must be banned from Turkmeneli.

US-collaborationist peshmerga militia must be withdrawn from all Turkmen towns, starting from Kerkuk!

The Associated Press
Saturday, April 12, 2008

Maliki: Status of Kurdish peshmerga remains unchanged despite crackdown on militias

BAGHDAD: Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the head of the Kurdish regional authority agreed Saturday to retain the current semiautonomous status of the peshmerga — the military force responsible for security in Iraqi Kurdistan — despite a government crackdown on militias elsewhere in Iraq.

"The guards of the province have the cover of legitimacy inside Kurdistan because they form organized forces," al-Maliki said after a meeting with Nechervan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdish government in northern Iraq.

The decision on the peshmerga comes after al-Maliki demanded that anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr disband his Mahdi Army or quit politics.

Iraqi forces supported by U.S. and British troops have mounted a series of attacks on the militants in Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City district and in the southern port city of Basra, both strongholds of the Mahdi Army.

Hundreds have died in a series of clashes which started with an offensive by government troops in Basra on March 25.

Al-Maliki and the political parties supporting his government — which includes the Kurds — insist on the disbanding of all militias groups.

During Saturday's meeting between al-Maliki and Barzani, the two agreed that peshmerga forces in Kurdistan will remain organized within two Iraqi army divisions numbering 25,000-30,000 troops, said a government official who attended the meeting.

Other peshmerga forces outside the Kurdish areas will be disbanded, said the official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The fighters have been in control of Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish areas for more than a decade. During the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, they assisted advancing U.S. forces and provided security in other parts of Iraq after the disbanding of the Saddam Hussein's security forces.

Nouri-al-Maliki: living between Baghdad's Fortified Green Zone and London

While Iraqis lack medical care, doctors, medicines, basic necessities and while Iraq is in total chaos the Iraqi "Prime Minister", left for London on Sunday, for a medical “check-up” (he was in London back in December for medical treament). He probably got a big fright when the Green Zone was mortared on Saturday morning!


24-Feb-08 [17:30]
National - PM's trip to London to resume medical examinations – advisor

Baghdad, (VOI) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki left Baghdad on Sunday for London to resume regular medical examinations, the premier's media advisor said.
"Maliki's examinations in London would complete the previous checkup that showed he is enjoying good health. The prime minister is not suffering from any indisposition," Yassin Majid told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).
"The prime minister, who is accompanied by two physicians who were with him during his first visit to London, will return to Baghdad in a few days," Majid said.
Earlier on Saturday the semi-official TV station al-Iraqiya said that Maliki flew to London for routine medical examinations. The channel did not give more details.
Maliki's first recuperative visit to London was paid on December 29, 2007.