Online Articles
Posts: 271
Joined: 11/9/2004
Status: offline
|
By Beth Potter
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- After three new attempts on his life, including a firefight in front of his house Wednesday, outspoken Mithal al-Alusi, a Sunni Muslim, is sure insurgents are still out to get him for his views on peace and tolerance.
Al-Alusi's sons were gunned down one week ago in a car in which he decided not to get in at the last minute. Since then, he said his house has been attacked three times, including a fierce firefight Wednesday -- apparently between insurgents and private guards protecting him.
Police were very slow to respond because they don't support his views on peace with Israel, al-Alusi said. The leader of the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation has been outspoken in his belief that Iraq must align with other democratic countries in the Middle East, possibly Turkey and others, to accept the current situation and make peace with Israel.
"It took the police two or three hours to come, even though they know my house," al-Alusi said. "They aren't interested, because of my views."
Police will help anyone who calls, no matter who it is, said Sabah Kadim, an Interior Ministry spokesman, in response to al-Alusi's claim. Kadim said he would check into the police response time to politicians' houses, especially al-Alusi's.
"We'd like to help him as much as we can," Kadim said. "We generally don't have a problem with response times."
Al-Alusi was defiant toward the killers, saying he would not leave the country following the attacks. He said his sons' killers must be brought to justice.
"I am a target, but this is my job. I will do it until the last second of my life," al-Alusi said. "If I have an appointment, I will go to it. I will not hide."
Other high-profile figures have been targeted and killed by insurgents in recent months, including the mayor of Baghdad, a judge in Basra and a senior official in the North Oil Company.
Democracy will not take hold in Iraq unless people challenge the old ways of thinking and "break the taboos," said al-Alusi, who lived in exile in the United States for many years. Iraqis will not be free of the old regime unless they fight for a new way of thinking, he said.
Al-Alusi disagrees that the way to stop terrorism in Iraq is to negotiate with insurgents. Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi was reported to have met with insurgents in Jordan recently.
"They don't care what these people did, that they killed people," al-Alusi said. "If they do this, they will open the door to all Ba'athists."
Candidates from the Ba'ath Party, the party of former president Saddam Hussein, were not allowed to run in Jan. 30 elections for a new 275-member national assembly. A "de-Ba'athification" effort led by Ahmed Chalabi appears to have stalled. Some Sunni Muslims, including some believed to be former Ba'athists, currently hold high posts in some ministries. Chalabi is expected to hold a high post in the new government.
|
Main Page
Log In
Register
Printable Version
Iraq leader under threat for Israel views - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread