Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
December 1, 2007
Pg. 11
By Amit R. Paley, Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Nov. 30 -- The leader of Iraq's largest Sunni political bloc said the Shiite-led government placed him under house arrest Friday after detaining his son and dozens of guards, aggravating the sectarian tension within the country's leadership.
U.S. and Iraqi military officials said they detained more than 40 employees of Adnan al-Dulaimi, who heads the Iraqi Accordance Front, after one was found with keys to a car rigged with explosives and two others were accused of killing a member of a neighborhood watch group.
In a telephone interview from his home in the capital's Adil neighborhood, Dulaimi demanded that the government release all the detained men -- including his son, Maki, 38, and a spokesman for his political party, Mohammed al-Issawi -- who he said were innocent victims of a politically motivated raid.
"This will have very negative impact on attempts to reach national reconciliation," Dulaimi said. "The government is trying to pressure me to side with them and be silent, but this is just going to increase the crisis."
The government has been in disarray since the summer, when a number of ministers--including six from Dulaimi's bloc -- left the cabinet. Many senior Shiite leaders have all but dismissed Sunnis such as Dulaimi as terrorists who have no place in the government.
"How can we work with a man who kills Iraqis and hides car bombs in his office?" Sami al-Askari, a Shiite legislator close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said of Dulaimi. "He should have been detained because he was caught red-handed in criminal acts."
The standoff began Thursday afternoon with the killing of Omar Mohammed, a member of one of the largely Sunni neighborhood watch groups formed by the American military, about a block from Dulaimi's office compound, according to a senior U.S. military official.
Witnesses saw two men involved in the shooting flee and hide in Dulaimi's compound, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
American and Iraqi soldiers then entered Dulaimi's office complex and found eight guards, two of whom tested positive for explosive residue on their hands, the official said. He said a car wired with an explosive device was also discovered outside the compound, and one of the guards was found with the vehicle's keys.
Thirteen Dulaimi security guards -- eight from the complex and five from a nearby checkpoint -- were detained by Iraqi security forces, but one escaped, according to the U.S. military. The soldiers shot at him while he fled, injuring two civilians, who were taken to a hospital, the official said. Their conditions were unknown.
Five U.S. soldiers suffered minor injuries when they came to defuse the car bomb, the military said.
Early Friday, Iraqi security forces returned with American troops to Dulaimi's home and arrested an additional 31 people, the U.S. official said. According to Dulaimi, however, more than 50 people were detained in all.
Dulaimi said the Iraqi forces arrived at his home at 4:30 a.m. and seized all of his bodyguards, weapons and cellphones. He said two Iraqi Humvees blocked anyone from entering or leaving his house all day Friday, including a grandson he had tried to send to the market.
"They have imposed house arrest on me," Dulaimi said, adding that there were about five other family members in his home. "This is contrary to the law and the constitution."
Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari, spokesman for the Defense Ministry, said the Iraqi soldiers were there to protect Dulaimi because his guards had been taken away. "He is free to go anywhere he wants," the general said.
But Sami al-Askari, the Shiite politician, said it was clear that Dulaimi was "virtually" under house arrest because government officials were afraid to detain him for "political reasons."
"This is not the first time Dulaimi has been accused of taking part in murders," the lawmaker said. He added that parliament had been asked to strip Dulaimi of his immunity after his neighborhood accused him of killing people in the area, an allegation Dulaimi denies.
The detained men are in Iraqi custody, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials. They have been charged with rigging cars with explosives, the defense spokesman said. He said Dulaimi is not under investigation.
The U.S. military also announced Friday that a U.S. soldier on patrol near Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad, was killed by a roadside bomb.
Staff writer Karen DeYoung and special correspondents Dalya Hassan and K.I. Ibrahim contributed to this report.
December 1, 2007
Pg. 11
By Amit R. Paley, Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Nov. 30 -- The leader of Iraq's largest Sunni political bloc said the Shiite-led government placed him under house arrest Friday after detaining his son and dozens of guards, aggravating the sectarian tension within the country's leadership.
U.S. and Iraqi military officials said they detained more than 40 employees of Adnan al-Dulaimi, who heads the Iraqi Accordance Front, after one was found with keys to a car rigged with explosives and two others were accused of killing a member of a neighborhood watch group.
In a telephone interview from his home in the capital's Adil neighborhood, Dulaimi demanded that the government release all the detained men -- including his son, Maki, 38, and a spokesman for his political party, Mohammed al-Issawi -- who he said were innocent victims of a politically motivated raid.
"This will have very negative impact on attempts to reach national reconciliation," Dulaimi said. "The government is trying to pressure me to side with them and be silent, but this is just going to increase the crisis."
The government has been in disarray since the summer, when a number of ministers--including six from Dulaimi's bloc -- left the cabinet. Many senior Shiite leaders have all but dismissed Sunnis such as Dulaimi as terrorists who have no place in the government.
"How can we work with a man who kills Iraqis and hides car bombs in his office?" Sami al-Askari, a Shiite legislator close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said of Dulaimi. "He should have been detained because he was caught red-handed in criminal acts."
The standoff began Thursday afternoon with the killing of Omar Mohammed, a member of one of the largely Sunni neighborhood watch groups formed by the American military, about a block from Dulaimi's office compound, according to a senior U.S. military official.
Witnesses saw two men involved in the shooting flee and hide in Dulaimi's compound, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
American and Iraqi soldiers then entered Dulaimi's office complex and found eight guards, two of whom tested positive for explosive residue on their hands, the official said. He said a car wired with an explosive device was also discovered outside the compound, and one of the guards was found with the vehicle's keys.
Thirteen Dulaimi security guards -- eight from the complex and five from a nearby checkpoint -- were detained by Iraqi security forces, but one escaped, according to the U.S. military. The soldiers shot at him while he fled, injuring two civilians, who were taken to a hospital, the official said. Their conditions were unknown.
Five U.S. soldiers suffered minor injuries when they came to defuse the car bomb, the military said.
Early Friday, Iraqi security forces returned with American troops to Dulaimi's home and arrested an additional 31 people, the U.S. official said. According to Dulaimi, however, more than 50 people were detained in all.
Dulaimi said the Iraqi forces arrived at his home at 4:30 a.m. and seized all of his bodyguards, weapons and cellphones. He said two Iraqi Humvees blocked anyone from entering or leaving his house all day Friday, including a grandson he had tried to send to the market.
"They have imposed house arrest on me," Dulaimi said, adding that there were about five other family members in his home. "This is contrary to the law and the constitution."
Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari, spokesman for the Defense Ministry, said the Iraqi soldiers were there to protect Dulaimi because his guards had been taken away. "He is free to go anywhere he wants," the general said.
But Sami al-Askari, the Shiite politician, said it was clear that Dulaimi was "virtually" under house arrest because government officials were afraid to detain him for "political reasons."
"This is not the first time Dulaimi has been accused of taking part in murders," the lawmaker said. He added that parliament had been asked to strip Dulaimi of his immunity after his neighborhood accused him of killing people in the area, an allegation Dulaimi denies.
The detained men are in Iraqi custody, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials. They have been charged with rigging cars with explosives, the defense spokesman said. He said Dulaimi is not under investigation.
The U.S. military also announced Friday that a U.S. soldier on patrol near Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad, was killed by a roadside bomb.
Staff writer Karen DeYoung and special correspondents Dalya Hassan and K.I. Ibrahim contributed to this report.