Political Settlement

British and Iraqi forces raided the headquarters for the National Iraqi Intelligence Agency in Basra, finding evidence of torture and abuse. This operation illustrates how difficult a political settlement will be to reach in this war ravaged country.

The raid was condemned by the Prime Minister of Iraq, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki as being illegal, while making no mention of the alleged torture or abuse by members of his own Shiite dominated Interior Ministry.

The P.M. seems more put off about not being informed of the operation prior to it being carried out than the conditions found by the joint Iraq U.K. raid.

This situation shows just how difficult a political settlement will be to attain in Iraq. The Prime Minister of Iraq was either complicate in the knowledge of the conditions at his government agency in Basra or he is unable to do anything to change those conditions in the south, where Shiite Militias including the powerful Mahdi Army of radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr hold most of the power.

Conditions in the south are significantly different than the one the Americans are dealing with in the capital city of Baghdad. In Basra there are few Sunni Arabs and the resulting sectarian blood letting that comes from the 1500 years old scab that was removed with the invasion by the Americans and their allies. Rather there is a myriad of Shiite groups vying for power, including the less publicized but no less lethal Badr Brigades of the leading religious Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI.

In what appears and attempt to keep the operation secret and the surprise element in place, the P.M. of Iraq was not informed. This was due to previous operations that were undermined by members the P.M.’s office tipping off the torturers, or having them released soon after capture.

This action then forced the Iraqi P.M. to condemn the raid and the raiders, the very members of his own government and the British, his ally in the fight to control his country.

Furthermore, the need for this operation and the way it was carried out brings into doubt the rosy scenario U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair recently illustrated as the factors for accelerated withdrawal from the south of Iraq of British troops.

This raid in Basra is a prime example how difficult a political settlement will be in Iraq when torture and abuse are overlooked while the people that rescued these victims from the ubiquitous drill hole in the knee cap are condemned as criminals.

The conflict between the forces of the Mehdi Army of Moktada al-Sadr and the Badr Brigades of SCIRI in the south of Iraq could well be a harbinger to the inevitable power struggle between the dominant Shiite parties for control of the entire nation of Iraq.