Asharq Al Awsat, Baghdad – Mithal al Alusi, who heads the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation, has told Asharq Al Awsat that he feels that the situation in Iraq has reached a critical point and that the “current political standoff is complicated in light of the era of terrorism experienced by Iraq and fueled by neighboring countries,”. He warns against the continuation of the present situation and the lack of positive steps taken by the main political forces active in Iraq to “confront the terrorist aggression that indiscriminately targets the whole of Iraq.”
“If the Iranian-Syrian agenda persists in Iraq, if the parliamentary blocs continue to ignore the causes of their defects and to blame one another, we will not see a unified Iraq in 2007, therefore, terrorism will sweep the region and the whole world,” al Alusi told Asharq al Awsat. This he considers a “crime against the stability of the Middle East and the democratic process required in the region.”
“There is a lack of trust among the parliamentary blocs, and the Iraqi citizen no longer has any faith in the political elite. This lack of trust has resulted in the failure of politicians to run the state affairs during the recent period,” al Alusi added, confirming the presence of a “regional alliance that seeks to hinder the establishing of a stable democratic Iraq. This alliance is based in Tehran and involves Iran, Syria, Lebanese Hezbollah, remnants of the Baath Party and the Al Qaeda network.”
Mithal Al Alusi, a member of Iraqi parliament told Asharq Al Awsat, “to find a way out of this standoff, one must avoid the agenda and interests of Iran, which is fighting the US in Iraq, clarify to Turkey that the Kurds of Iraq are Iraqi citizens and that Baghdad is the strategic depth of Irbil and Sulaymaniyah. Furthermore, one must express frankly to Syria that sugar-coated words are of no benefit: you are the cause of Baghdad’s misfortune just as you were the cause of Lebanon’s misfortune. There must also be the establishing of local security and intelligence services that cooperate with those of neighboring countries in the interest of Iraq and its people, whose interests have to be respected by those countries, and finally to revitalize the Iraqi economy.”
Al Alusi emphasized the statements made by some Iraqi politicians concerning Iranian and Syrian interference in Iraqi internal affairs. He stated, “Neighboring Iran and Syria are actually the key detrimental elements of interference; this is a fact to which we cannot turn a blind eye.” “There are other countries capitalizing on the current political process in Iraq through attempts to manipulate Iraqi politicians,” al Alusi pointed out. He called for establishing diplomatic relations with all neighboring countries on the condition that these states would refrain from interfering in Iraqi affairs.