Al-Sadr’s dilemma and the fear of an Inter-Shiite clash or the failure of Iraq to recover itself

Written by – Elijah J. Magnier:

The six rockets hitting Baghdad airport’s runway and damaging a parked disused civilian aeroplane seem not directed at the US forces stationed near the Victory base, far from where the missiles landed. Instead, it could well be part of the political process and the Shiite-Shiite sharp dispute. This threatens to develop into a political or military clash, a conflict that could be the expression of the friction between the Shia parties. Is there a way out of further complications and unrest in Iraq, or is Mesopotamia heading toward more instability, or worse?

Since Sayed Muqtada al-Sadr announced his victory as the largest parliamentary bloc (73 deputies out of 329) and his right to choose the next prime minister and deputy speaker of Parliament and President, disputes began to be activated within the Shiites in Iraq. These differences intensified after Muqtada al-Sadr repeatedly declared that he would move towards a national government and not a government where the quota is distributed among different political parties. Sayed Moqtada hoped to break the customary distribution adopted by all previous Iraqi governments when choosing the prime minister and its members. 

However, Sayed al-Sadr’s objectives can’t always be fulfilled. They clash with the fact that he must ally with the Sunnis and the Kurds and give them the quota they want to promote the already elected Speaker of Parliament, Muhammad al-Halbousi, and the President whose election is due on the seventh of February, next month. Otherwise, he will fail to obtain the parliamentary majority needed (165 MPs) to select the country’s leaders.