Rumored death of famed former Iraqi statesman and military commander Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri

[Saddam Hussein]

See this below, the power struggle can be seen. One can say 'Those are our brothers etc.' but that is not relevant, the top leadership of these 2 sides is what is in question here. Whereas the police answers to a national government, Hezbollah is one that is a splinter of Iranian ambitions and ideology, the same type of groups enforced ISIS style ruling in Baghdad and other area's pre 2008. Ironically Maliki fought them using ISOF back then which earned them the name 'dirty brigade' back then.

Things move slow in Iraq but eventually some big change is likely to happen. Baathists have been demonized to be used as a tool against some political actors, I've been called one. Many in Iraq do not share my opinion, for them religious identity is far more important.

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(cannot post link).
Three people were wounded Wednesday in a firefight between Iraqi police and Iraq’s Hezbollah militias in the capital Baghdad, a security source said.

“The clashes erupted after a police patrol stopped a car in the Palestine Street in Baghdad. Later on, a five-vehicle convoy of Hezbollah arrived at the scene and clashed with the police forces before fleeing the scene,” the source told Al Arab Al Yawm newspaper.

“Iraqi security forces sealed off the headquarters of Iraq’s Hezbollah in Baghdad,” the source said. “Following negotiations between police and Hezbollah leaders, the latter agreed to hand over the fighters who had fired on the police patrol.”

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[Saif al-Arab]

See this below, the power struggle can be seen. One can say 'Those are our brothers etc.' but that is not relevant, the top leadership of these 2 sides is what is in question here. Whereas the police answers to a national government, Hezbollah is one that is a splinter of Iranian ambitions and ideology, the same type of groups enforced ISIS style ruling in Baghdad and other area's pre 2008. Ironically Maliki fought them using ISOF back then which earned them the name 'dirty brigade' back then.

Things move slow in Iraq but eventually some big change is likely to happen. Baathists have been demonized to be used as a tool against some political actors, I've been called one. Many in Iraq do not share my opinion, for them religious identity is far more important.

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(cannot post link).
Three people were wounded Wednesday in a firefight between Iraqi police and Iraq’s Hezbollah militias in the capital Baghdad, a security source said.

“The clashes erupted after a police patrol stopped a car in the Palestine Street in Baghdad. Later on, a five-vehicle convoy of Hezbollah arrived at the scene and clashed with the police forces before fleeing the scene,” the source told Al Arab Al Yawm newspaper.

“Iraqi security forces sealed off the headquarters of Iraq’s Hezbollah in Baghdad,” the source said. “Following negotiations between police and Hezbollah leaders, the latter agreed to hand over the fighters who had fired on the police patrol.”

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Yes, I am aware of this unfortunate incident (did not bother to post it as thread would be flooded by Iranian Mullah supporters screaming propaganda) and such incidents has happened previously too. Should be dealt with and trashed by the state institutions in a perfect world.

Yes, I know what you mean. This is the problem with "democracy on paper" in the region. Some of the most dysfunctional states in the Arab world and region are actually so-called democracies. Just take a look at Lebanon, Jordan and Kuwait. Kuwait is a good example as they are not poor nor are there any unrest there or sectarian unrest despite a significant Shia community. However when it comes to governance of the country the many political parties makes it almost impossible to come to an agreement so everything is incredibly slow. It is much easier to make changes in say KSA or Egypt if you have a good, visionary and young leader that wants changes such as MbS for instance but sadly not many such leaders in our region and for now it's been only 3-2 years so he can also fail eventually although I do not believe this based on what I have seen so far.

My hope is just that even the likes of Hadi al-Amiri will understand, as an Iraqi and Arab, that hostility against fellow Arabs is not the way forward and I do not believe that they will truly seek this. He and his likes often talk about wanting brotherly relations with Arabs so maybe there is some hope there. However that is irrelevant if they cannot rule Iraq as great leaders and divide it.

Al-Sadr and friends meeting MbS last summer.



Was a cordial meeting and ties have been good since.

Met with Qassim al-Araji (close friend of Hadi al-Amiri and same political party)

Militaries we know about and as long as both militaries have strong ties (they should improve 1000 times more) I believe that they can serve as security guarantors to prevent unwanted elements from disrupting cooperation.

Anyway let us wait and see what the final coalition will be now after the recount (which is also a farce) and that incident with those many burning votes that obviously someone had done on purpose (created this fire in the building - very suspicious timing IMO).

I have to go now. Nice talking to both of you @SALMAN F @OutOfAmmo as usual. Such discussions were intended when creating this thread as I did not want to start an entire thread about this topic due to infestation of trolls in it as we saw in post 1 in this thread. Al-Douri is irrelevant here although I will consider him an Iraqi and Arab patriot (regardless of his faults) and that I will always respect. Ba'athi or not.