Stop Fundamentalism – A spokesman for the Iraqi bloc told Asharq Alawsat that while Nouri al-Maliki is still the Prime Minister, no national agreement can be reached.
“Any congress meeting to achieve a national unity will not be realized while Maliki is still the Prime Minister,” said Haidar Al-mulla, Iraqi bloc spokesman, in a phone interview with Asharq Alawsat Tuesday.
The current crisis in Iraq started when Nouri al-Maliki returned from the United States meeting President Obama and following departure of American forces attempted to make adjustments in the Iraqi government. As the first step he tried to sideline Tareq Al-Hashimi, Vice-President by bringing up terrorism allegations against him; charges that Hashimi categorically denies.
There has been a call from Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Nouri al-Maliki for a national conference to resolve the present political crisis. But many groups are now saying that the location of such conference cannot be Baghdad as many important participants will not be able to attend.
Hashimi is currently in the Iraqi Kurdistan region that has judicial sovereignty separate from Baghdad.
The presidency of the Kurdish region announced earlier that if the congress is held in Baghdad, “Massoud Barzani will not attend.”
“Iran helped Maliki to power and tries to keep him in power by any means,” said Haidar Al-mulla to Asharq Alawsat.
