Sunday Times 2
Maliki slammed as US delays military action
BAGHDAD, June 21 (AFP) – Iraq’s top Shiite cleric has urged all of its people to unite and expel Sunni Muslim insurgents, as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki came under growing pressure at home and abroad.
The call came on Friday after US President Barack Obama stopped short of acceding to Maliki’s appeal for air strikes against militants, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), prompting neighbouring Shiite Iran to charge that Washington lacked the “will” to fight terror.
Maliki: Iraq’s beleaguered Prime Minister
A swift militant offensive, led by the jihadist ISIL, has overrun swathes of northern and central Iraq, risking the United States’ already damaged legacy there, displacing hundreds of thousands and threatening the country’s very existence.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a revered cleric among the Shiite majority, called on Iraqis to band together against the insurgents before it was too late.
If ISIL is not “fought and expelled from Iraq, everyone will regret it tomorrow, when regret has no meaning”, his spokesman announced on his behalf.
The reclusive Sistani, who heads a council of senior clerics, said Iraq’s next government must be “effective” and avoid “past mistakes”, an apparent rebuke to Maliki, premier since 2006.
His remarks came after several senior American figures pushed Maliki, seeking to retain the premiership after winning a plurality in April 30 elections, to work with Iraq’s Sunni Arab and Kurdish minorities.
US Vice President Joe Biden, Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Martin Dempsey and David Petraeus, the former top US commander in Iraq, have all either called for Maliki to be more inclusive or outright criticised him.
Definite uptick
With Secretary of State John Kerry heading to Europe and the Middle East for talks on Iraq, Obama said Thursday that Maliki’s actions could dictate the country’s fate, amid a growing feeling in Washington that the Iraqi leader would do best by moving on.
Former US ambassador to Baghdad James Jeffrey said there has been a “definite uptick” in Washington’s criticism of Maliki.
Obama, who based his political career on ending the costly eight-year US intervention in Iraq, has insisted Washington is not slipping back into the morass.
But he has offered as many as 300 military advisers and left open the possibility of “targeted and precise military action if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it”.
Washington already has an aircraft carrier in the Gulf and is flying manned and unmanned surveillance flights over Iraq. Senior US officials said privately special forces being sent to advise Iraqi forces could call in air strikes if necessary.
The latest offer was the most concrete action announced by Washington since the crisis erupted on June 9.