Iraqis frustrated by deadlock

Opinion: August 14, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By Abeer Mohamed

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting

BAGHDAD

Iraqis are becoming increasingly frustrated as their nation endures its fifth month without a working government.

The conspicuously slow pace of negotiations has led some observers to accuse politicians of putting personal agendas ahead of the public good. Experts say the political paralysis is holding up development across the board, and has left the country vulnerable to insurgent attacks.

“All public sectors are frozen — economic, cultural, health, social, agricultural. There is no government to handle these responsibilities,” said Jamal al-Batekh, a senior official in the Iraqiya bloc.

The stalemate is widely blamed on deadlocked negotiations between Nouri al-Maliki, the current premier, and Ayad Allawi for the prime minister’s post.

Neither Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc nor Maliki’s State of Law bloc have been able to put together a working majority in parliament since the March election. Maliki has denied that his insistence on retaining his post as prime minister has stalled the formation of the government.

Deadliest month

Meanwhile, the government reported that 535 Iraqis were killed last month, making July the deadliest month since May 2008.

Analysts and politicians fear that the political impasse will further destabilize Iraq as the United States withdraws the last of its combat troops in late August.

“The current political deadlock creates a vacuum, which can probably be exploited by al-Qaida and terrorists to undermine security as the withdrawal approaches,” said Adil Barwari, a Maliki adviser.

Ibrahim al-Sumaidai, a Baghdad-based analyst, said the political deadlock “shows (insurgents) that the political and therefore the security situation is fragile, so this is their chance.” Security is not the only concern. Public anger over crumbling services — most notably the country’s dilapidated electricity system — has grown, with citizens taking to the streets to protest the lack of power amid the sweltering summer heat.

In July, Baghdad had an average of five hours of power a day.

Abdul Hadi al-Hassani, a senior State of Law leader, said Iraqis “are the victims of the delay in the government formation. They deserve better services, but (development) is being put off because politicians are not willing to make sacrifices in the interest of Iraq.”

With no end to the political impasse in sight, political leaders and analysts are predicting that the government will not be formed until mid-September, after the end of Ramadan.

But Batekh, the Iraqiya bloc officials, thinks even that date is optimistic. He notes that neither side has “made even one step forward” since the election.

“If there was political maturity in Iraq, then we would have been able to form a government after the election results were announced, and we wouldn’t be in this deadlock,” he said. “But political ignorance exists. And we should be honest and admit that no politician is willing to sacrifice his demands.”

Abeer Mohamed is a reporter in Iraq who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.