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Special Dispatch-Iraq/Reform Project
March 30, 2006
No.
1130
Iraqi Reformist MP Sayyed Ayad Jamal al-Din on
Current Iraqi Issues*
To view this Special Dispatch in
HTML, visit:
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD113006
.
Sayyed Ayad Raouf Jamal al-Din was elected, on December 15, 2005, a
member of Iraqi Parliament on the Iraqiyah list headed by former prime minister
Dr. Ayad Alawi. He is a distinguished religious scholar persistently calling for
the separation of religion and state. During the first meeting organized by the
Iraqi opposition to Saddam, held in Nasiriyah in April 15, 2003, Sayyed Ayad
declared: "In defense of religion, I call for secularism... The Holy Koran has
been hijacked by the state for a long time, and it is incumbent upon us to save
religion from the grip of the state."(1)
The following are the main
points of an interview given by Iraqi MP Sayyed Ayad Jamal al-Din to ASWAT (the
Independent Iraqi New Agency):(2)
Al-Ja'fari's Nomination to Form the
New Government
The formation of a new Iraqi government following the
mid-December general elections has been delayed largely because of disagreement
among the various potential coalition partners on the candidacy of Dr. Ibrahim
al-Ja'fari as prime minister.
Sayyed Jamal al-Din believes that it is
premature to discuss the status of the designated prime minister, Dr.
al-Ja'fari. While his party, al-Iraqiyah, has no qualms about al-Ja'fari
personally ? it is far more important at this time to agree on the policies and
the principles upon which the new government will be established than to dwell
upon personalities.
Maintaining the Authority of the Prime
Minister
Sayyed Jamal al-Din rejects the attempts by the Sunni Accord
Party, headed by Saleh al-Mutlak, to restrict the authority of the Prime
Minister by creating a national security agency that would subject him to
non-parliamentary jurisdiction. Given the difficult conditions under which Iraq
is going through, Jamal al-Din believes that the prime minister should be given
broad and extraordinary powers to fight terrorism and restore
services.
On the Dangers of Civil War
No matter how one may
characterize the current events in Iraq, the fact remains that there is a
widespread on-going and unabated expulsion of Shi'ite families from (Sunni)
areas such as abu Ghraib, al-Tarmiya, and al-Taji. So far, 3,700 Shi'ite
families were expelled, in addition to car bombs that target the working people
because they are Shi'ite. These events will generate reactions because it cannot
be expected that these people will indefinitely remain patient and quiet about
what is done to them. For this reason, Sayyed Jamal al-Din called on the
politicians to acknowledge these risks and expedite the formation of the new
government to save this country "from the bloodshed which is flowing
incessantly."
Politics and Terrorism
Sayyed Jamal al-Din
underscored the distinction between the security portfolio and the political
portfolio. Terrorism exists "before the government [and will continue] after the
formation of government." Terrorism has its own agenda which has recently
changed from fighting Americans to fighting Iraqi civilians. He draws particular
attention to "the Wahhabi and takfiri terrorism"(3) which seeks to instigate a
sectarian war in Iraq ? "terrorism cannot remain in a stable and peaceful
country." The terrorist agenda would not have changed if the government were
established a month earlier. The terrorism portfolio cannot be closed easily or
by one stroke, because the training of the army and police will take time, and
so will the control over the borders and the draining of the sources of
terrorism. He assessed that that terrorism would last for another two
years.
U.S. Support of Political Parties
Sayyed Ayad refused
to entertain the notion that the U.S. stands in the way of religious parties in
Iraq in support of secular parties. He emphasized that all political parties in
Iraq support the democratic process and participate actively in it.
American-Iranian Dialogue
Jamal al-Din thinks that the idea
of an American-Iranian dialogue was a trap for Iran because the inevitable
results are known in advance. He added: "If I were in a leadership role in Iran
I would have advised them against taking part in a bilateral dialogue with
America." Rather, there should be a conference that would include all the
neighboring countries of Iraq, including the Iraqi government. The Americans
will say Iran is not cooperating, and this will give them additional ammunition
to add to the nuclear issue.
To View Clips on Sayyed Ayad Raouf
Jamal al-Din on Arab TV:
**Iraqi Politician Iyad Jamal Al-Din: The Arabs
Want Tyrannical Regimes, in Line with Their Backward Culture, LBC (Lebanon),
July 31, 2005, http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=793
.
**Arabs Don't Really Want Democracy, Al-Arabiya TV (Dubai), Al-Fayhaa
TV (Iraq/UAE), November 30, 2005,
http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=979 .
**Iraqi Shi'ite
Leader 'Ayad Jamal Al-Din: Iran Pursues Own Interests, Not Shi'ite Interests,
Al-Arabiya TV (Dubai), January 3, 2005,
http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=473 .
* SAYYED JAMAL
AL-DIN WILL BE VISITING THE U.S. NEXT WEEK, AND WILL INAUGURATE A NEW SERIES OF
LECTURES BY ARAB REFORMERS INITIATED BY MEMRI. HE WILL ALSO BE SPEAKING AT TWO
UNIVERSITIES, AND WILL MEET WITH OFFICIALS AT VARIOUS BRANCHES OF THE U.S.
GOVERNMENT.
Endnotes:
(1)
www.sotaliraq.com/articles-iraq/nieuws.php?id=15012 . See also The New York
Times, April 16, 2003.
(2) http://www.aswathura.com/aswat/details.asp?id=1792
, March 26, 2006.
(3) Takfiri is a concept used by Islamist groups that
declare Muslims as apostates, which would justify their
killing.
*********************
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