Observers rule out Wikileaks papers would affect situation in Iraq

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Observers ruled on Sunday that the documents published by the Wikileaks web site would have an impact on the security and political developments in Iraq, noting those papers did not bring about anything new. “The security scene in Iraq would not by affected to a great extent by these documents or any other documents. The havoc and shocks Iraq has already been through are far exceeding any media depiction of the importance of these documents,” strategist Juma Abdullah Motlak told IraqiNews.com news agency. He said that the timing of the release of these papers was meant to have an effect on two things: the mid-term elections in the United States and the acceptance Nouri al-Maliki is gaining from the political blocs to win a second term in office as prime minister. “Impact on the political chessboard can take place through maneuvering. The Iraqis’ lives are cheap in the politicians’ eyes,” Motlak added. For his part, political analyst Abbas al-Yasseri said the Wikileaks papers did not offer anything new. “What had been revealed earlier was very much stronger, but these documents were badly used and even was in the interest of the Iraqi government because the Iraqi man in the street knows quite well the purposes behind this attack in this very particular timing,” he said. Yasseri elaborated that these papers coincide with a time in which Iraq is in labor pains of forming a new government, let alone interference by some countries in the region so as to block the access of certain figures, particularly Nouri al-Maliki, to power. He said it was possible that some U.S. parties that might have conflicts with the Pentagon capitalized on the current situation in Iraq and leaked 70,000 documents on Afghanistan and 400,000 others on Iraq. “This most likely will not have security or political repercussions on Iraq inasmuch as inside the United States,” he added. Academician Hashim Hassan also thinks that these leaks would have very limited impact now that the titles of these documents, though propagated by many, were not very appealing or interesting to the public opinion. He called on the Iraqi government and the justice ministry to launch transparent probes into these leaks and punish the persons responsible for torture against Iraq Iraqi prisoners. Classified documents published by Wikileaks regarding the Iraq war revealed that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is accused of leading special forces strictly taking their orders from him and suppressing Sunni Muslims in Iraq. The reports noted that the U.S. side has turned a blind eye to torture and excesses that took place inside Iraqi prisons. AmR (I) 72