Maliki invites US political, security analysts to visit Baghdad
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, concerned by his portrayal in US media as an autocratic leader intent on consolidating power, has invited several influential Washington scholars to Baghdad to meet his team next week.
The rare invitation was extended to Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution, Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institution and Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group, according to Reuters.
“I think it a very smart and constructive step on his part,” said Pollack, a former CIA military analyst who served in President Bill Clinton’s White House and also authored an influential book backing the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
Maliki’s opponents have accused the Shiite leader of amassing power they fear will restore the dictatorship toppled by the United States when it felled Saddam Hussein.
Iraqi officials said “The idea behind inviting the scholars was to put out Baghdad’s side of the story and respond to a deliberate distortion of reality being promoted by Maliki’s opponents.”
“He feels that there is an increasing hostile activity against Iraq and the Iraqi government that attempts to give an unfavorable and negative picture about the situation in Iraq,” said Ali al-Musawi, chief media adviser to the prime minister, responding to an enquiry made to Iraq’s embassy in Washington.
“It is important for those interested in Iraqi affairs to see the situation on the ground and to listen to the voice of Iraqi government and average Iraqis, rather than being exposed only to the readings and voices of those who have political agendas,” Musawi said.
He did not spell out who he meant but cited unnamed regional powers interested in seeing a weakened Iraq.
Some sides blame and the decision of the US President, Barrack Obama, to withdraw all US troops from Iraq by the end of 2012 in a political crisis erupted as soon as troops leave, and raised fears over civil war expected to be witnessed in the country.