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?????????????????????????????????????????????????Friday, May 11, 2018
Iraq will 'pay the price' for war between Iran and the US, warns leftist leader
Iraqi Communist Party secretary says new conflict threatens fight against sectarianism in Iraq
Sairoun
Alliance posters, including those showing Raid Jahed Fahmi, outside the
Iraqi Communist Party's headquarters in Baghdad. (MEE/Alex MacDonald)
BAGHDAD - Iraq will
"pay the price" for any war between the United States and Iran, warned
the head of the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) on Thursday, as tensions
continue to escalate following the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear
deal.
Raid Jahed Fahmi, a former government minister and parliamentary
candidate for the Communist-backed Sairoun Alliance, told Middle East
Eye that any war between the two countries would risk stirring up
sectarian tensions in the country again - tensions which he suggested
had started to dissipate in recent years.
"Iraq should be not be
involved in any military conflict on one side or another," Fahmi said,
speaking at the ICP's Baghdad headquarters.
"Rather, we have an interest to maintain peace. All political groups [in
Iraq] recognise the need to maintain peace, because we know that the
first country to pay the price is Iraq.
"Iraqis will pay the price in terms of stability, in terms of terrorism, in terms of destruction and so on."
We cannot accept these new measures against Iran, it is not realistic, it is dangerous- Raid Jahed Fahmi, ICP General Secretary
US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his country would be
withdrawing from the 2015 deal limiting the nuclear capabilities of
Iran, claiming that it had "shortcomings" and that Tehran was not
holding up its end of the agreement.
The move, which was welcomed by Tel Aviv and Riyadh - and criticised by
European leaders - has led to renewed fears of direct conflict between
the US, Israel and Iran.
On Thursday, Israeli forces claimed to have wiped out almost all of
Iran's military infrastructure in Syria following what were described as
heavy exchanges of fire during the night, starting over the Golan
Heights.
After the first direct clashes over the Israeli-occupied Syrian
territory since 1974, Israel said its barrage on sites throughout Syria
was a response to around 20 missiles fired at Israeli forces, which it
blamed on Iran's Quds Force. Iran has denied any involvement.
"We hit nearly all the Iranian infrastructure in Syria," said Defence
Minister Avigdor Lieberman at a security conference near Tel Aviv.
'Dangerous' measures
Fahmi said that America risked plunging the region into chaos again
because of its actions, and warned that any sanctions reimposed on Iran
would have a dramatic impact on Iraq, which is diplomatically and
economically close to both countries.
"We cannot accept these new measures against Iran, it is not realistic, it is dangerous," he said.
Iraq is currently only two days away from parliamentary elections, the
first held after the defeat of the Islamic State group (IS), and there
are already fears that the new rise in tensions could impact the outcome
of the vote.
Raid Jahed Fahmi, General Secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party (MEE/Alex MacDonald)
At least two of the major political coalitions - the State of Law
coalition headed by former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Fatah
Alliance headed by Badr Organisation leader Hadi al-Amiri - have direct
political ties with Iran, and US diplomats are already warning that the new situation could embolden pro-Iranian elements in Iraq.
Baghdad's streets are lined with posters for different parliamentary
candidates, including many who are veterans of the fight against IS.
The largely Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi groups, militias who played a
key role in fighting IS and now make up the bulk of the Fatah Alliance,
have long resented American involvement in the fight against the Islamic
State and in Iraq as a whole, and already wholeheartedly support
Iranian forces fighting Sunni groups in Syria.
Also visible are advertisements for candidates from the Muttahidoon coalition, a largely Sunni group led by Osama al-Nujeifi, seen as heavily backed by Turkey - another country with ambitions in Iraq.
Fahmi warned that it would be difficult for Iraq to maintain a
"politically independent" and "balanced" position between so many
different foreign powers if fighting breaks out.
"It did not become a clear issue for the election because it came late,
but it will have an impact," he said. "And certainly an impact on the
constitution of the government later on. This issue will be there, in
the back of their mind."
End to 'confessionalism'
The offices of the ICP in Baghdad are nondescript, although posters of
the parliamentary candidates for the Sairoun Alliance are strategically
placed outside the building. The interior of the building favours
martyred Iraqi communists and modern art rather than Shia or Sunni
religious figures, as is the case for many parties in Iraq.
A controversial coalition, the Sairoun Alliance links the ICP with the
much bigger Integrity party, which is backed by the influential Shia
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The combination of the ultra-secular communists with the Islamist
Sadrist movement has provoked anger and surprise on both sides of the
divide, but for Fahmi there is a natural social base deriving from the
poor, the working class and those angry at the corruption and
unemployment currently afflicting the country.
In addition, recent moves by Sadr to reach out to Sunni voters and
condemn sectarianism in favour of a national approach have been warmly
welcomed by a party that has long boasted of being the lone
non-sectarian party in Iraq.
Fahmi, who won't be drawn on his sectarian or ethnic background, said
there was a real sense that politics in Iraq was turning away from
"confessionalism" and focusing on genuine bread-and-butter issues, such
as unemployment, poverty and corruption. A new conflict with Iran would
damage a lot of the progress made.
A mural of ICP founder Yusuf Salman Yusuf (MEE/Alex MacDonald)
"More and more people are starting to recognise their problems do not
lie in their differences with the other communities. Rather, their
problems lie with the government's mismanagement and corruption, bad
economic policies and so on," he explained.
"We have even seen over the last two or three years the representatives
of these different communities have lost their credibility. And this
applies to the Sunni leaders, the Shia leaders, etc."
He added: "So you see there is an improvement in the consciousness of
the people - certain things they used to accept they will not accept any
more."
While previous elections have proved hazardous for campaigners, Fahmi
said that he had so far not faced negative reactions during election
rallies. Despite a longstanding suspicion among many Muslims of
"atheist" communism, Fahmi said there was always an audience ready to
listen this time.
With Iraq’s elections taking place a week after the 200th birthday of
Karl Marx, Fahmi is confident that an ideological shift is coming in
Iraq, more in line with the kind of analysis and predictions made by the
party's political forebear.
"I think many of [Marx's] ideas are up to date, particularly with
regards to globalisation. His ideas are still fresh - they apply now
more than they applied 200 years ago," he said.
"We as a party are still inspired by Marx's approach. In our policies,
we use this, in terms of analysing Iraqi society, in analysing our
priorities, in determining the nature of contradiction - we cannot
analyse these properly without using Marxian tools."