Dheyaa Alwakeel
Diaa Al-Wakil / Advisor and former spokesman of the Armed Forces
On Saturday the 11th of April 2015 the American ambassador in Baghdad (Stuart Jones) met with the delegation of the Anbar Provincial Council and its President, Mr. Sabah Karhout, who said to Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath on the same day that the meeting looked into the security updates that the governorate is going through!? This meeting came during a politically tensed atmosphere along with the heated battles in Al-Ramadi, the refusal of the US administration for the participation of the PMF in the military missions, and rising reservations about the management of the file of war on terrorism which filled the relationship between Washington and Baghdad recently. And it’s not a coincidence that this meeting is followed by consequent developments that we summaries in the following:
The issuance of a statement from the religious scholars in Anbar on the very same day refusing the participation of PMF in liberating the governorate..
The issuance of declarations from the members of the Provincial Council of the same context and direction..
Dramatic developments in the scene of the missions varying from, hit-and-run and breaches, in Al-Ramadi battles..
The complexity of the security scene after the battles moved to populated areas.
Huge migrations by civilians from the war zones, and the beginning of a dangerously large humanitarian crisis..
And we can’t look at these developments while neglecting what’s happening in the American political lobbies, from objecting to what it describes as the “Iranian role” in Iraq and refusing the participation of PMF in the battles, not to mention their reservation on putting Anbar ahead of Mosul in liberation priority, and conditions any active participation in military effort from their end on how well Baghdad responds to Washington policies, which views at the situation from its purely pragmatic angle without any care about the continuous blood spill and resource drainage, or even the suffering of millions of immigrants and the high price paid by Iraq for the delay in finding a conclusive solution to the ISIS file, instead, they wouldn’t even mind destroying the fragile political concord and deepening differences further down. They wouldn’t care about the fall of Al-Ramadi if that serve their interests in the area or cause no difference to them…
The message have been delivered, and it’s been so for a long time now, but did Al-Anbar’s politicians, elders, and men of religion who met the American ambassador -or didn’t meet- realize the truth behind the political game and what runs behind the scenes of the struggles and competition over power that’s witnessed by the region ?? We as well as others understand very well how heavy is the military, political, and humanitarian pressure must be on the people of Anbar, and we understand that just as well as we look with the eyes of wisdom and national interest at the declarations of Mister Al-Abadi in Washington in which he pleaded Iran to respect the sovereignty of Iraq and welcomed its support to Baghdad in its war against terrorism??
We hope that our brothers in Anbar do not fall for non-guaranteed promises and political maneuvers that won’t serve neither Iraq nor Anbar, but would actually finish off what’s left of any features of civilization and infrastructure of the cities of the province, multiply the numbers of immigrants and worsen their suffering, complicate the crisis and further deepen the wounds…
I believe that the chance is still there to reassess the situation despite of the standing challenges and the dangers and repercussions that they present to the land, as the choice of the nation and the interests of its people is enough to fix the crack and unify the ranks in facing the biggest challenge that ISIS represents to Iraq now and in the future, as this only is the way of salvation and liberation…
