Talabani, al-Maliki mourn al-Hakim

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Friday that Abdulaziz al-Hakim left a big vacuum in Iraq after his death. This came in his word delivered at Baghdad international airport during the official funerary ceremonies of al-Hakim. The president asserted that the vacuum created by al-Hakim will be filled by “fighting men”, mainly Ammar al-Hakim and other members of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council. For his part, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that al-Hakim was a strong support for Iraq in all difficult circumstances, describing the Shiite leader as ‘a leader and a pioneer’. The body had arrived at Baghdad airport earlier Friday. The funeral started from the airport to the Bratha mosque. The body will then be carried to Karbala and then to Najaf for burial next to the body of his brother Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, who was assassinated in August 2003 in a deadly blast in Najaf. Hakim passed away after physicians failed to treat a recent serious deterioration in his health. The SIIC’s al-Furat channel had announced Hakim’s death. Hakim is the leader of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which comprises major Shiite parties. The bloc is the largest in the Iraqi parliament after it won the 2005 elections with 128 out of a total 275 seats. He also spearheaded the SIIC after the assassination of his brother Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim in August 2003. A powerful and one of the most prominent Shiite political figures in Iraq, Hakim was in charge of the political affairs of the SIIC’s precursor Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). He also led the SCIRI delegation to Washington during the meetings held by the Iraqi opposition groups to discuss the means to unseat the Baath regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Hakim returned to Iraq nearly one month after the Baath regime was deposed. He became a member of the U.S.-installed Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in December 2003. The SIIC has been calling for adopting a federal system for Iraq, that is the establishment of federal provinces in Iraq to help run the country and accelerate its development process. This vision brought the SIIC closer to the Kurds who had struck an alliance with it. The SIIC has played a key role in the country’s political process and retained some important portfolios in the government, in addition to the vice president post, after the 2005 elections. SH (S) 1