Qatar on 3 September hosted a ‘conference’ for Iraqi Sunnis seeking ‘national reconciliation.’ In the days leading up to the gathering – which when it took place turned out to be just a series of separate informal meetings – it created a major stir within the Iraqi political scene, as it became known that Sunni insurgent groups such as the Ba’th Party and the Muslim Scholars Association (MSA) were participating. What tied this to the Iraqi political process was the participation of senior figures within the Mutahidun, the coalition led by the former speaker (and recently removed as vice-president) Usama al-Nujaifi. The leading Iraqi figure for the conference – at least in media terms – was Ahmad al-Masari, a parliamentarian from Baghdad who is Mutahidun’s leader in parliament. When Mr Masari announced that Speaker Salim al-Jiburi would be attending the event in Doha, this raised the stakes further.
That both Mr Jiburi and Mr Masari belong to the Islamic Party wing of the Mutahidun made them a perfect target for Shi’a factions aligned with Iran, who have been doing their utmost over the past year to break Iraq’s new coalition government. The Islamic Party is the Iraqi branch of the regional Muslim Brotherhood, of which Qatar is famously a key backer. Khalaf ‘Abd al-Samad, head of the Dawa Party Bloc and a key lieutenant to former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, has headed up an effort to have Mr Jiburi impeached, calling Qatar’s sponsorship of Sunni factions part of a “despicable plan” by a country that – in their view – backs terrorists. (CONTINUED - 1767 WORDS)
