Nouri al-Maliki’s dangerous speech

The Head of US Central Command General Joseph Votel told AFP recently that 800 to 900 ISIS fighters were killed during the current battle carried out by Iraqi forces with US military support in Mosul.

The estimated number of ISIS members in Mosul is around 4,000 fighters. Let us say that the number has reached 10,000, even if it did not reach this extent. We should keep in mind that Mosul’s population is, despite the displacement and ISIS cruelty, estimated at 1.5 million, most of which are Sunni Arabs, including Turkmen, Kurds, Assyrian Christians, Shabak, Yazidis and even Shiites. We are talking about the population of the whole province of Nineveh.

There is no doubt that any news about an ISIS fighter’s death is good news; it is a noble and honest battle. Any Muslim and any human being will surely support it and pray for it. However, are those who are fighting against ISIS today in Iraq blameless of extremism, atonement and sectarian revenge?

Let us read together these apparently brilliant ideas of the supposedly tolerant national Iraqi leader, who is said to be above and beyond militia thoughts, Mr. Nouri al-Maliki:

Days ago, Nouri al-Maliki thanked the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for helping Islam and Muslims in a speech delivered in Baghdad while Khomeini’s conference – the Conference on Islamic Awakening – was ongoing.

The most dangerous part of Maliki’s tactical, perceivably Khomeinist, speech was when he said: “Nineveh, here we come,” because it also means: Raqqah, here we come; Aleppo, here we come; Yemen, here we come. We will go into all the regions where Muslims are fighting.

Nouri seems to have declared a Shiite war, led by Iranian Khomeinism!

He delivered his speech in the presence of Supreme Leader Khamenei’s adviser and political terrorism envoy Ali Akbar Velayati who is internationally accused of a terrorist crime that took place in the Argentinian capital. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the head of the Supreme Islamic Council, and Ammar al-Hakim (considered a moderate figure among them!) all participated in the retaliation-poisoned conference.

The ragged sectarian militiaman Nouri al-Maliki had posted on his page on Facebook a few days before, a status commenting on the battle of Mosul, coincided with the month of Muharram, the month representing Shiite sorrows and one which is marked with processions, especially this year:

“In these sacred times, during which we celebrate the anniversary of the victory of blood against the sword with the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, peace be upon him, we urge the faithful to pray for the victory of the fighters; those who are concerned about the country started the Liberation of Nineveh from terrorist ISIS.”

Therefore, we can only say that even if all ISIS fighters are killed in Mosul, Raqqah, and other regions, the true salvation will come once Maliki’s ideology is eschewed, along with al-Baghdadi’s, as both, I believe, are the same.

This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Oct. 30, 2016.

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Saudi journalist Mshari Al Thaydi presents Al Arabiya News Channel’s “views on the news” daily show “Maraya.” He has previously held the position of a managing senior editor for Saudi Arabia & Gulf region at pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. Al Thaydi has published several papers on political Islam and social history of Saudi Arabia. He appears as a guest on several radio and television programs to discuss the ideologies of extremist groups and terrorists.

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