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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Baghdad Mayor Is Ousted by a Shiite Group and Replaced |
| 2005-08-10 |
| BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 9 - Armed men entered Baghdad's municipal building during a blinding dust storm on Monday, deposed the city's mayor and installed a member of Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia. An Iraqi walking through the aftermath of a suicide bombing in Baghdad that killed seven people and wounded at least 90. The deposed mayor, Alaa al-Tamimi, who was not in his offices at the time, recounted the events in a telephone interview on Tuesday and called the move a municipal coup d'état. He added that he had gone into hiding for fear of his life. "This is the new Iraq," said Mr. Tamimi, a secular engineer with no party affiliation. "They use force to achieve their goal." (more at the link, maybe registration required) |
| Posted by:glenmore |
| #12 I was hoping that Jaafari would lose enough Arab "face" that he'd realize what a tool he his just because Sadr's a Shi'ite, but you're prolly right on the money. The sectarian Islamic BS is why I am not optimistic that Iraq the (Yugoslavia of the M.E.) will survive intact. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-08-10 17:31 |
| #11 If this is, indeed, a Sadr action, then he just negated all of the stupid forgiveness he's enjoyed since the start of the war. Don't count on that. Unwarranted as it may be, there's plenty more stupid forgiveness for Sadr in reserve, all in the usual places. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-08-10 17:25 |
| #10 Its a SCIRI thing, not Sadr. SCIRI and Sadr are feuding in Sammawah down south too. SCIRI and Dawa are the main Shiite alliance. |
| Posted by: buwaya 2005-08-10 16:44 |
| #9 Mitch - Can you cite a source or two? You post puts an entirely different light on it - Thx! I did presume he was an elected official... my bad! |
| Posted by: .com 2005-08-10 15:41 |
| #8 As far as I can tell, this is a case where the elected representatives of the region were trying to fire the manager hired by the previous, appointed representatives, and he was refusing to go. So they sent roughly twice as many goons as he had on his payroll to make sure he went this time. 1) Mayor of Baghdad isn't the same thing as an American mayor. Far as I can tell he's a glorified chief-of-staff for infrastructure and maintenance. 2) Most of these articles are quoting the offended party heavily, which suggests that all of these characterizations of al-Tamimi as "secularist" and his enemies as "religious" is al-Tamimi's own spin. 3) His own vice-Mayor was quoted in one of the articles as complaining that al-Tamimi had a hundred goons on his payroll, all hanging out around the offices. In short, he's a Sunni holdout from the Governing Council days who was refusing to turn over his office to the new party. It all strikes me as about on the par with similar armed standoffs that periodically occur in the deeply corrupt Sioux reservations in the Dakotas. Not particularly appetizing, but I don't have to eat the resulting sausage. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2005-08-10 15:27 |
| #7 I'll agree to "could've", but "would've" suggests they are incapable. Few here hold the Arabs in as much contempt as I do, but I ascribe that to a barbaric tribalist society and indoctrination by The Religion of Hate, not to some congenital condition. They certainly may waste this golden opportunity, but I believe we have to play it out and let them prove that case, themselves. If this is, indeed, a Sadr action, then he just negated all of the stupid forgiveness he's enjoyed since the start of the war. Sitting with Jaafari just last week for the TV cameras and looking so chummy, pretending to be a civilized politician instead of a killer, thug, and agent of the MM's, this action will put Jaafari in a bind. That's good. Time for the blinders to come off and for Tater to be fried. That's what I hope this pointless act, and it should be obvious that it is pointless, leads to. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-08-10 15:05 |
| #6 Who are these bozos? Can we ignore them? |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-08-10 14:47 |
| #5 .com If Iraq is actually to become a nation of laws Then it would've become such a nation any time in the last 13 centuries. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2005-08-10 14:45 |
| #4 If Iraq is actually to become a nation of laws, this cannot stand. Those who did it must be dealt with, summarily, or the Govt is a joke. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-08-10 14:20 |
| #3 I'm not sure how much difference (if any) there is between Provincial Shia Religious parties and Shia militia. I am curious about the motive - a power play on political/religious grounds, or an attempt to either remove, replace or install a corrupt official. |
| Posted by: glenmore 2005-08-10 14:17 |
| #2 It could be possible, but the method to HOW it was done bothers me. Also, I don't know how Islamic this "militia" is. The man the group installed, Hussein al-Tahaan, is a member of the Badr Organization, the armed militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, known as Sciri. |
| Posted by: Anon4021 2005-08-10 14:17 |
| #1 ive seen elsewhere that the provincial govt wanted to oust this guy. The prov govt is dominated by Shiite religious parties, while the city mayor is a secularist. So its not quite the militia coup the NYT implies. Dont have a cite handy, though. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2005-08-10 14:10 |