In
the past few months the tensions between the Sunnis and Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki has continued to grow. In a recent parliamentary session, they were
supposed to discuss the ongoing events, especially the main problem of national
security, but al-Maliki did not show up. Instead of attending the parliamentary
session, he chose to send a letter to the parliament, saying that, addressing
these issues could worsen national security even further.
Bombings
have started to become prevalent in Iraq as a suicide bomber killed 9 people in
Tikrit, and a day before, a bomb exploded in a Shiite Muslim mosque in Zubair.
The increase of these violent attacks is usually pointed towards the Sunni
Muslim insurgents who are linked to Al-Qaeda, due to their dismay towards the
Shiite-led government. In the month of March alone, 267 Iraqi civilians,
policemen, or soldiers were killed, and many more have been wounded
(al-jazeera).
The
tension between the Sunnis and Nouri al-Maliki brings up the question if the
Sunnis are to blame for the reemergence of violence in Iraq. The answer to that
question is, no, the Shiites and Kurds have also used violence. In the oil rich city of Kirkuk, Iraq,
where the region mainly consists of Kurdish, the Kurds have been in disputes with the
central government regarding the resource of oil. This region is a
semi-autonomous Kurdish region, and the tension between them and the central
government has continued to grow over oil rights in the area. In Baghdad,
Shiite militants attacked four newspaper offices, where they stabbed and beat
the employees. The reason for this attack was because the newspapers published
an article about their leader, cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, who was being accused
of trying to dominate the holy city of Karbala.
This
issue is important to understand because much of the news that is being
reported in Iraq portrays the Sunnis as the only group creating the violence,
stemming from their dismay towards the central government through nonviolent
protests. Seeing that Prime Minister al-Maliki doesn’t seem to have a strong
interest in resolving these violent actions, and that the Shiite and Kurdish
Muslim groups are also being violent, shows that the Sunnis seems to be an easy
target due to their protests.
The
policymakers in Iraq are faced with a big problem of national security, but it
all starts with Nouri al-Maliki. He seems hesitant in resolving the rise in
violence, and needs to take control of the country because it has taken a turn
for the worse. Since he has the authority, he has to take steps to try and make
a compromise with the Sunni protesters and the Kurdish with their oil dispute.
There are still more questions than answers, such as, how will al-Maliki
resolve these different issues? Is there a way to make a compromise? And
lastly, will each group ever be happy, even with some sort of a resolution?
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