* fnbplanet (Interview: Iraqi VP Tariq al-Hashimi): DV 2/2/12
Great translation, fascinating view on the Maliki regime. Still think he’s the good guy?
02/02/2012 By Ma’ad Fayad
Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat- Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi believes his greatest mistake was, “supporting Al-Maliki twice for the position of prime minister of Iraq.” Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat from his temporary residence in Erbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, al-Hashimi rejected standing before any court in Baghdad and stated that he will “sue Nuri al-Maliki constitutionally and legally because he harmed my reputation and honour.”
Al-Hashimi detailed the raid on his office and his home in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad by Operation Forces and described his ordeal as “sectarian practices.”
The following is the full text of the interview:
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you think you will remain in Erbil for long?
[Al-Hashimi] I hope not. I hope that this crisis will end well in the near future. However, I cannot determine a time frame for remaining here. My situation is normal, praise be to God, and I am working with the rest of the leaders to find an appropriate way out.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] what scenario do you see resolving this crisis?
[Al-Hashimi] The crisis this time is a heavy weight, and I mean what I say. Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, has created a national crisis and this requires an urgent political surgical resolution. In my opinion, Iraq today is at a crossroad: either we focus the attention of our political leaders to build a true democracy or everyone must give in to what happened over the past six years in terms of obvious polarization of power which could very possibly lead this country to tyranny. This political scene that I am summarizing and I am saying has put the country in great danger and all possibilities in the future are open. It is on this basis that it is now time for everyone to assume their national and legitimate roles, especially leaders of the National Alliance, in order to save Iraq and prevent the country from slipping back into tyranny and losing the opportunity. This could be the last opportunity.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] In your opinion what led to this situation?
[Al-Hashimi] This problem probably lies in the national project that was adopted by our Al-Iraqiya group. Frankly, this is how I read the situation. Personally over the past six years I have not been a personal rival of Al-Maliki, but I was in opposition.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] You were a supporter of Al-Maliki!
[Al-Hashimi] I never supported Al-Maliki.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Did you not support his nomination for the prime minister’s position twice?
[Al-Hashimi] Yes I did, on two occasions, and probably committed the biggest mistake of my life.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you regret supporting Al-Maliki?
[Al-Hashimi] Yes, very much so. I supported him in 2006 when Al-Maliki was replaced by Ibrahim al-Jaafari. The scene was repeated again when the political position was altered in the final moments before the current government was formed. I deprived Al-Iraqiya the chance of brother Iyad Allawi forming the cabinet and of being the prime minister. We finally agreed on the nomination of Al-Maliki to form the government. I was also one of those people who did not think twice about blessing the nomination of Al-Maliki and this time in the hope that we will benefit from the experience of the previous session. This was the hope and this is what I told Al-Maliki when I met him alone a number of times in the hallways and spoke to him about my point of view on how the Iraqi state should be administrated over the next four years, which I brought down to one issue this time, and said we must steer clear of political one-upmanship and political haggling and focus over the next four years on serving the Iraqi citizen, serving Iraq, and working as contractors, both you and I, to serve Iraq. I have experience and political and security potentials that I want to utilize to serve my country but I was denied the opportunity to help the Iraqis over the past session, so can you this time open your heart to your brothers in the Al-Iraqiya List and strengthen true national partnership, a partnership that would be that of strong people and not one of the powerful with the weak, a leader and a follower which was the impression we had during the previous session?
The * fnbplanet (Interview: Iraqi VP Tariq al-Hashimi): DV 2/2/12 by Dinar Daddy's Tidbits, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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