BAGHDAD (AP) — Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s botched
policies and "obsession with power" are quickly eroding his support even
among longtime Shiite backers, politicians here say, as the Iraqi
leader moved Friday to try to repair his shattered image after the
disastrous loss of the north to Islamic militants.
With his job on
the line, al-Maliki traveled to Samarra, north of Baghdad, to
personally supervise the defense of a city that is home to a revered
Shiite shrine against growing attacks. A 2006 bomb attack by Sunni
militants on Samarra led to an outbreak of Sunni-Shiite violence that
lasted for nearly two years.
In footage shown on state television
that seemed clearly aimed at rehabilitating his reputation in the eyes
of Shiites, a dour-faced al-Maliki was shown confronting the city’s top
army commander. Later, he was seen praying at the Shiite shrine — an
apparent reminder of his commitment to his faith and the protection of
its followers.
Earlier, the prime minister came under scathing
criticism at a meeting of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish party leaders, with
one young up-and-coming Shiite politician angrily telling him his
"obsession with power" and botched policies were to blame for this
week’s debacle.
"Now, I must leave. I have a meeting to go to," a
seething Ammar al-Hakim, leader of a key Shiite party, told al-Maliki
before storming out of the session Wednesday night, according to a
politician who attended and shared the exchange with The Associated
Press in return for anonymity.
During eight years in office,
al-Maliki has touted himself as the only leader capable of safeguarding
the Shiite domination won after the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein — a
Sunni — and defeating Sunni militants blamed for bombings and attacks
against security forces and Shiite civilians.
But those claims
have begun to sound increasingly hollow. In December, fighters of a
breakaway faction of al-Qaida, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant,
captured the city of Fallujah in the mainly Sunni province of Anbar, as
well as parts of the provincial capital, Ramadi. That put the militants
just 30 miles west of Baghdad.
Still, it is the loss this week of
Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown, along
with vast territory in northern Iraq that could potentially herald the
end of his tenure.
For years, the once-powerful Sunni Arab
minority has complained that al-Maliki was marginalizing them and
discriminating against their community, detaining thousands and turning a
blind eye to abuses against them by his security forces.
His
fellow Shiites complain that he restricts decision-making to himself and
a small circle of confidants. The Kurds, who run a self-rule region in
the north, have been at loggerheads with him over what they see as his
attempts to meddle in their affairs and curb their freedom.
And the complaints are not restricted to Iraqi politicians.
Without
mentioning al-Maliki by name, President Barack Obama criticized the
Iraqi leader in an address Friday from the South Lawn of the White
House.
Saying he is weighing a range of options for countering the
Islamic insurgency in Iraq, Obama warned the U.S. will not take
military action unless the Baghdad leadership moves to address
deep-seated political trouble.
"We’re not going to allow ourselves
to be dragged back into a situation in which, while we’re there we’re
keeping a lid on things, and after enormous sacrifices by us, after
we’re not there, people start acting in ways that are not conducive to
the long-term stability and prosperity of the country," Obama said.
Obama
did not specify what options he was considering, but he ruled out
sending American troops back into combat in Iraq. The last U.S. troops
withdrew in 2011 after more than eight years of war.
Talk of an
alternative to al-Maliki had been rife well before this week’s losses,
with fellow Shiites, Kurdish politicians and Sunnis insisting that it
was time for a change at the top. But al-Maliki, whose coalition won the
largest number of seats in parliamentary elections in April, remained
unfazed, even cocky.
In recent comments, he said he was confident
he would be able to piece together a majority coalition in the 328-seat
legislature so he can retain his job. On June 2, he claimed to have the
support of 175 lawmakers and counselled those who want to join to agree
first with his "program and principles."
The loss of Mosul and Tikrit and the criticism from Obama could change all that.
During
Wednesday night’s meeting, which brought together Kurdish, Sunni and
Shiite leaders, the prime minister was accused of marginalizing his
nominal allies, not seeking their counsel and of placing too much trust
in Saddam loyalists, including military commanders.
"We are past
discussing whether al-Maliki should be the next prime minister or not,"
said a Shiite insider familiar with the workings of the Shiite political
elite.
"There is no longer diplomacy, niceties or flattery after
we lost Mosul," said the politician, who spoke on condition of anonymity
to discuss the sensitive subject.
Evidence of the prime
minister’s waning political support surfaced again on Thursday, when an
emergency parliamentary session called by al-Maliki to adopt a state of
emergency did not have a quorum. Sunni and Kurdish lawmakers stayed
away, fearing the prime minister will abuse the extensive powers such
legislation would give him.
Although prospects for al-Maliki’s
survival appear dim, the Iraqi leader has a reputation for being a
gritty political fighter and a survivor.
Earlier this week, he
called for popular mobilization in the face of advances by the Islamic
militants, a move that has received extensive coverage by the state
media he closely controls.
A close Shiite ally with vast
experience in running militias, Hadi al-Amiri, has set up the "Hussein
Brigade" — named after one of Shiism’s most beloved saints — to fight
the militants. Calls by senior Shiite clerics for Iraqis to take up arms
to fight the Islamic State militants and defend holy shrines could only
bolster al-Maliki’s standing as a Shiite leader.
There is no
clear favorite to succeed al-Maliki, but the names of the widely
respected Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a former vice president and a seasoned
Shiite politician, and Ayad Alawi, a secular Shiite and a former prime
minister, have been floated as possibilities.
Al-Maliki rose from
virtual obscurity in 2006 to become Iraq’s prime minister at a time when
thousands of Iraqis were being massacred in Sunni-Shiite fighting that
took the country to the brink of civil war. In 2008, he bolstered his
standing as a national leader when he took on Shiite militias
challenging the central government’s authority.
He went on to win a
second term in office in elections held in 2010, but he has since shown
traits that many in Iraq see as authoritarian. For the past four years,
al-Maliki has been in charge of the nation’s large police force while
keeping the interior minister’s job vacant.
He has also been the
de facto defense minister, leaving the minister to run the day-to-day
affairs of the ministry while he makes key decisions on armaments,
deployment and tactics.
Iraqis say al-Maliki has allowed
large-scale corruption to continue and failed to significantly improve
their lives despite vast oil revenues. Another complaint, often repeated
by Sunnis, is that the prime minister has aligned Iraq too closely with
Iran, a mostly Shiite, non-Arab nation that is at odds with the
Sunni-ruled, oil-rich Gulf Arab states.