Sunni Political Leaders Failing Sunnis

Ahmed Alaskary

April 17, 2007

Sunni political leaders since the fall of the regime have continued to vocally support the insurgency and oppose the political process. Sunni Vice-President, Tariq Al-Hashemi in an interview with a Qatari newspaper last year legitimized and supported the insurgency. Whereas prior to the January 2005 elections, Sunni political leaders tried to bring an advancing democratic political process to a halt by urging their followers to boycott elections, since the December 2005 elections when they joined the political process they have tried to cancel out democratic advancements at almost every stage. For example the reaction of the Islamic Party, the largest Sunni political group, to the attacks on Parliament last week which saw 1 Sunni MP killed, was to blame the government and call for the entire democratic process to be abandoned in favor of a “Plan B”.

This belies the fact that Thursday’s bombing inside the Green Zone was the culmination of a series of incidents that made this almost inevitable:

In November, a bomb was discovered in the Sunni speaker of Parliament’s convoy as he was entering the Green Zone.

Also in November, the arrest of Adnan Dulaimi’s bodyguard on suspicion of planning a massive multi-vehicle suicide bombing operation inside Baghdad’s International Zone.

The discovery of TNT and explosives at the homes of Sunni MPs Khalaf al-Ilyan last week and Dhafir Alani last month.

The problem is that Sunni political leaders have failed to make a clear decision as to whether they support the democratic process or the insurgency. Up until now they have had one foot on either side. Some extremists within their rank who support their pro-insurgency message use the access that the political leaders have gained to carry out their terrorist activity against the government.

Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar fighting Al-Qaeda and insurgents in western Iraq, complain that instead of supporting their efforts, the Sunni Islamic Party, far from helping them seems to be supporting the insurgents.

The Sunni community has consistently been let down by its political leaders. The time has come for Sunni political leaders to decide where they stand – with the democratic process and government, or the insurgents and terrorists. The international community should pressure them to make this decision, sooner rather than later.

News Analysis brought to you by the Iraqi Prospect Organisation - www.iprospect.org.uk

The Iraqi Prospect Organisation is an Iraqi-based network of young men and women promoting democratic values.