Iraq crisis has nothing to do with Sunni and Shia: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Sa’ad al-Muttalibi, from the State of Law Coalition from Beirut, to discuss who are really behind the deadly violence that is going on in Iraq.

What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview.

Press TV: We just had Iran’s Leader talk about the fact that A: there is no Sunni-Shia war that is going on here and B: he mentioned the fact that the US and some of its allies are behind what is going on in Iraq. How would you describe the position that the US has? We heard from the US President Barack Obama talk last week or a few days back in that press conference that they are ready to offer not only the 300 advisors, they call advisors, but also of course pinpoint air strike where it to be required.

Muttalibi:
I must agree entirely with what has come out of Tehran because as we see today through the negotiations and through our continuous efforts to deal with this issue, there is definitely a conspiracy. There is nothing to do with Sunni and Shia. This is a political issue that the Baath party, using some regional forces, regional support, alongside came here the United States with tying the Iraqi issue with what is happening in Syria, what is happening with the negotiations between Iran and the West for the five plus one in nuclear talks.

So, the matter is tangled now. It’s more tangled than it was before. Now everything is connected to something. There are talks of people pushing to push Maliki away in return for some favors somewhere else.

The United States is looking for a unity government against the majority government. I think the whole problem in Iraq is entirely caused by the philosophy of the State of Iraq. Today the people of Iraq think that we need a majority government that will be responsible for leading the country and responsible for building it and will be accountable after four years where we see the other political parties which are Shia and Sunni come to that matter. They believe that we should have a wide power-sharing government, again like the same failure we had with the [State of] Law’s government for four years.

So, the idea is that there is a tremendous pressure on Iraq today on the elected government to move away from majority government and go back into the failing idea of power-sharing.

Unfortunately, America, the United States and Mr. Obama share the same view as with those politicians from Shia and from Sunnis who has presented to the world that this is a Sunni-Shia fight and the Sunnis are marginalized in Iraq and tried to create a sectarian struggle here in Iraq where it has nothing to do with sectarian it’s purely political, it’s purely on the shape of the coming the government of Iraq and how they want to build that government.

Press TV: And quickly if you can, are we looking for this to end or subside at a minimum where Maliki come and form this, if you want to call it the national unity government or majority government or whatever government that is representative, enough for Iraqis to feel that we have a good cabinet or government in place? Would it affect the situation, decrease what’s going on with these terrorists that are running amok in Iraq?

Muttalibi: I think there is an international misunderstanding of what we presented with the idea of majority government. Majority government doesn’t mean a majority social government. It doesn’t mean that a Shia government or a Sunni government. It means majority political parties: Sunni, Shia and Kurds and Christians and all other components of Iraqi society but with the right of the Prime Minister to select his own ministers and not have ministers imposed on their Prime Minister. That was the whole idea.
The speeding of forming the next government, whatever form it may take will definitely assist in subsiding the violence, of course, we have with the historic fatwa of Imam Sistani. Today we have three Iraqi volunteers ready to go and clean this mess of ISIL and al-Qaeda and Baath party.

So, on the political line there are advances, there are works being done. On the military or security side, also there is a second train going to deal with those insurgents and al-Qaeda and ISIL and those who are behind those criminals, wreaking or trying to wreak havoc in the country.

Press TV: Petrodollars being spent by some Persian Gulf countries, I am not going to mention names, are they going to keep continuing doing this even if they get defeated in Iraq and just switch from Iraq to Syria maybe and back and forth? What game plan do you foresee there?

Muttalibi: No, I think they will continue their evil doings and they will continue what they are doing until there is a problem in the Middle East. The region is on fire. The region needs to be quietened down. Otherwise we will continue to see this trouble either in Iraq or Syria and tomorrow maybe in Jordan or another country.