The storyline surrounding Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, the top-ranking Sunni official in a Shi’ite dominated government, had been quiet for months, but erupted today when a politically charged case against him ended with the court ordering his execution as a terrorist.
Not that the execution is likely to happen. Hashemi, a top Iraqiya bloc member, was in Kurdistan when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered his arrest as a terrorist last December, and has since relocated to Ankara, Turkey. Despite being a member of the US-imposed coalition government, Hashemi is an outspoken critic of Maliki’s policies.
So far Hashemi, who despite spending months in exile and now being ordered killed is still the recognized Vice President of Iraq, has not responded to the court’s ruling, but has promised to issue a statement soon to make his position apparent.
Hashemi was accused by Maliki of running a secret assassination network out of the Vice President’s office, a charge which he denies. He has been in Turkey for medical treatment for the past several months, but was said to be planning to return to Iraqi Kurdistan. Even if he does the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), itself no fan of Maliki, would likely refuse to turn him over.
The more things change in the middle east the more they stay the same.
Yup, and wasn't it worth all those lives lost, people maimed and trillions of dollars spent?
(sarcasm off)
I love to hear about Iraq, that nation that the U.S. brought freedom to (after the shock and awe). It just goes from strength to strength, doesn't it? A bit like the U.S.
When is the U.S. going to accept that its efforts on the world stage are a complete failure, that it is a laughing stock, that all it does is to spread death, chaos and destruction?
I just wish I could put it more forcefully but I don't want to offend anyone!
America never had it so good as when CIA-asset Saddam Hussein was fighting an eight-year war on its behalf against Iran. Then we Shocked and Awed Iraq so that Bush could play War Prez and brought "freedum and demokracy"…
All the dude has to do is ask the US for asylum. They can put him up with the rest of the Middle Eastern and Latin American dictators they're already collecting.