DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       9jacheatbase.tk
  HTML https://9jacheatbase.createaforum.com
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       *****************************************************
   DIR Return to: World News
       *****************************************************
       #Post#: 24--------------------------------------------------
       Iraq's Maliki Rejects Pressure To Give Up Premiership
       By: kingrollex Date: July 4, 2014, 5:51 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       By Isra'a al-Rubei'i and Maggie Fick
       BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister
       Nuri al-Maliki refused on Friday to give up his
       quest for a third term in power, defying a
       chorus of critics demanding his replacement
       as the country faces an existential threat from
       Islamist insurgents.
       Maliki has come under mounting pressure
       since militants of the group now calling itself
       the Islamic State rampaged through swathes
       of the country last month and declared a
       mediaeval-style caliphate on land they have
       captured in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
       "I will never give up my candidacy for the post
       of prime minister," Maliki said in a statement
       read out on state television by an announcer.
       "I will remain a soldier, defending the interests
       of Iraq and its people," he added, in the face
       of what he called terrorists and their allies.
       He was referring to the Islamic State and
       some of the most prominent armed Sunni
       groups who have taken control of large parts
       of majority-Sunni regions of Iraq.
       Maliki's statement will complicate the
       struggle to form a new government to unite
       the ethnically and religiously divided country,
       something parliament failed to achieve this
       week. It extends a political deadlock made all
       the more dangerous by the pressing threat to
       Iraq's territorial integrity.
       Accused by his critics of exacerbating the
       country's sectarian split, Maliki has come
       under immense pressure to step down from
       his Sunni and Kurdish political foes, and even
       from some in his own Shi'ite camp.
       In pointed comments in a Friday sermon read
       by an aide, the country's leading Shi'ite cleric
       said parliament's inability to form a new
       government at its first session was a
       "regrettable failure".
       Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani reiterated his
       call for the government to have "broad
       national acceptance", a formulation that many
       officials interpret as a call for Maliki -
       accused by Sunnis of marginalizing them and
       worsening ethnic tensions - to go.
       Iraq's implosion has been watched with
       intense concern by the United States, which
       invaded in 2003 to topple dictator Saddam
       Hussein and withdraw in 2011 after a war that
       cost almost 4,500 American and tens of
       thousands of Iraqi lives.
       Washington has deployed advisers to Iraq.
       U.S. military officials believe the Iraqi army
       will be able to defend Baghdad but struggle to
       recapture lost territory, mainly because of
       logistical weaknesses.
       VILLAGE CAPTURED
       There was some encouragement for the Iraqi
       army on the battlefield: late on Thursday it
       scored a symbolic victory by recapturing Awja
       - the home village of Saddam Hussein - from
       Sunni insurgents.
       Backed by helicopter gunships and helped by
       Shi'ite Muslim volunteers, the army took the
       village in an hour-long battle, according to
       state media, police and local inhabitants.
       Awja lies 8 km (5 miles) south of Tikrit, a city
       that was captured by the Islamic State, an al
       Qaeda offshoot formerly known as the Islamic
       State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as part of
       its lightning assault last month.
       Iraqi's police and army imploded in the face of
       the militant onslaught, which also captured
       Mosul and other major Sunni areas. A
       government offensive to retake Tikrit began on
       June 28, but the army has still failed to win
       back the city
       Maliki's military spokesman said Awja had
       been "totally cleansed" and 30 militants killed,
       according to state television. A police source
       told Reuters three insurgents had been killed.
       The army said it now held the 50-km (30-
       mile) stretch of highway running north from
       the city of Samarra - which is 100 km (60
       miles) north of Baghdad - to Awja.
       But the mainly Sunni communities along this
       corridor remain hostile towards government
       forces, and army convoys continue to come
       under guerrilla attack.
       Government forces could benefit, however, if
       cracks in the loose alliance of insurgents in
       Sunni majority areas widen.
       In the town of Hawija, site of infighting last
       month between Islamist fighters and Sunni
       militia forces, members of local Sunni tribes
       told Reuters that community members had
       organised to fight against the militants in
       control of the town.
       Members of the Al-Obaidi tribe were angered
       over the militants' seizure of homes of local
       sheikhs and officials, and had formed an
       armed group that killed five insurgents on
       patrol in the town on Friday, residents said.
       (Additional reporting Raheem Salman, Ned
       Parker and Alexander Dziadosz in Baghdad
       and Isabel Coles in Arbil; Writing by Mark
       Trevelyan; Editing by Andrew Roche)
       *****************************************************