CQ: Iraq Sunni party to open DC lobby shop

WASHINGTON, April 10 (UPI) -- The Iraqi Islamic Party, the largest Sunni Muslim faction in the Baghdad parliament, is to launch a Washington lobbying operation.

According to CQ Weekly, the party led by Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi was looking for office space for a seven-strong lobby shop to open next month.

It said the main objectives of the operation would be strengthening U.S. support for the fledgling Iraqi government and stem the growing influence of Iran over the Baghdad parliament's large Shiite majority.

Last year the party, which has 44 seats in the 275-member Iraqi parliament, retained Michigan-based lobbyist Muthanna al-Hanooti on a one-year, $100,000 contract, CQ Weekly said, adding that he would oversee the office's opening.

Al-Hanooti told the magazine he would be in Baghdad this month to finalize details of the funding for the operation with al-Hashimi.

"Our government and administration are very misinformed about Iraq," CQ quoted Hanooti as saying. "You've seen a lot of the blunders just because of misinformation."

The magazine also quoted foreign-agent registration documents filed by al-Hanooti. They show the Iraqi Islamic Party's call for:

-- Mandatory military service for young men to redress what the party calls a "skewed sectarian imbalance" in the country's armed forces, which are dominated by Shiites;

-- Disbanding all militias, including the Mahdi Army led by renegade Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr;

-- Prompt trials for prisoners detained without charge by the U.S. and Iraqi militaries, "the overwhelming majority of whom are Sunnis," and:

-- Parliamentary monitoring of government appointments to prevent alleged "sectarian cleansings" of Sunni officials.