Post date: Oct 24, 2010 2:57:37 PM
The news of the release by the WikiLeaks website of almost 400,000 classified U.S. docments -- some detailing prisoner abuse by Iraqi forces -- has collided with the troubled politics of Baghdad and led to accusations that the timing was designed to derail attempts by Prime Minister Nuri a-Maliki to form a new government.
BAGHDAD, IRAQ (OCTOBER 24, 2010) REUTERS - There are signs of high suspicion in many quarters in Iraq over the timing of the release of almost 400,000 classifed U.S. war files by the website WikiLeaks.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is trying to form a new government in the wake of inconclusive elections in March and he and ministers in his Shi'ite-led government have found themselves in the position of having to defend their administration's record in the investigation of cases of abuse alleged to have been perpetrated by Iraqi security forces.
Such accounts are contained among the war files which were released by WikiLeaks on Friday (Oct. 21).
Some Iraqis have attributed the release as an effort by the U.S. and regional powers to impede formation of a new government and as pressure on the incumbent Prime Minister's bloc of the State of Law in favour of former prime minister Iyad Allawi.
"This usually happens whenever there was a chance to form a government and whenever there was a hope to end the stalemate and I think that regional countries and the United States of America have a role. I think that the United States of America wants the Iraqi people, including political blocs to adopt a specific policy and if it saw that the political blocs adopt the policy preached by the United States and the regional countries, then it is ok. I think that they do not care about the opinion of the Iraqi people," said Iraqi engineer Iyad Mehdi.
"There is a reason in publishing these documents in this specific time by the United States. Probably it (the Unites States of America) wants to target specific political parties in the interest of others," said another Iraqi citizen.
The U.S. government and the Pentagon have both publically decried the publication of the documents.
The head of Hammurabi Human rights organisation William Warda said there was no evidence detention by the government of people purely on sectarian bases. But Warda said that violations of human rights had been committed in prisons. Warda believes there was an aspect to the timing of the disclosure.
"The revelation at this time is not haphazard, but definitely the timing was carefully chosen, specially that it comes amidst rising tension caused by the delay in forming the government. I believe that some parties will use these documents and will circulate them to serve their interest in their race to power."
The documents which span 2003 to 2009 also detail 66,081 civilian deaths in the Iraqi conflict, including civilians killed at U.S. checkpoints, WikiLeaks said.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry purged thousands of officials following revelations that mainly Sunni prisoners were being held in secret prisons near the 2006/07 height of the sectarian slaughter.
Iraqi Human Rights Minister Wijdan Michael said that though many of the cases mentioned appeared to be old, a committee would vet all documents.
"If there is anything new in these documents we will take it into consideration and we will study them. A large number of the events has been investigated or followed up by the Iraqi government. However, we say again that decisions have not been taken in a large number of events because there was not enough evidence. The documents that have been leaked will be studied by the Human Rights (Ministry) and by the government and if they produce new evidence that charge the Americans or specific persons in torturing civilians or committing violations against Iraqi citizens, they will be adopted and the case will be opened again," said Michael on Sunday (October 24).
She added that almost all the cases mentioned in the released documents had been registered by her ministry and already investigated.
The allegations of prisoner abuse could yet embarrass Maliki's Shi'ite-led government as he seeks support for a second term.
Iraq is yet to form a new government seven months after an election that produced no outright winner.
Mailki's ambitions to continue in his post are opposed by the Sunni-backed cross-sectarian Iraqiya alliance that won the most seats in the new 325-seat parliament, and by some of his erstwhile Shi'ite allies.
WikiLeaks files also cover periods when others were in charge, including Iraqiya's leader, former premier Iyad Allawi, and ex-Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Maliki's office said the release of the documents at a time of continuing government negotiations was suspicious. The office said unnamed media organisations were using the files to attack the outgoing government.