Iraqi speaker highlights disarray; Karzai likes 'almost all' of the Afghan strategy

Election of Iraqi speaker exposes fractures

The election of Iyad al-Samarrai as the speaker of the Iraqi Parliament may point to fissures in the political climate in Baghdad, an analysis showed.

Lawmakers elected Samarrai, a Sunni, by a vote of 153-79 during a weekend session. Iraq has been without a president of the Legislature since Mahmoud Mashhadani stepped down from the post in December.

Members of the Shiite Dawa Party, led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, as early as last week raised objections to the Samarrai nomination, moving in favor of a compromise candidate, Mustafa al-Hiti. Hiti managed to secure 34 votes, with 45 members casting blank ballots, suggesting Dawa garnered only minor opposition for Samarrai, the analytical Web site historiae.org reports.

In February Samarrai fell just short of the majority needed to secure the speaker position as lawmakers from a variety of parties took the issue as a symbolic point of contention in the new Iraqi government. The historiae report suggests the rivalry over Samarrai is indicative of the general failure of Iraqi lawmakers, notably Maliki himself, to bring a non-sectarian face to the political climate in Baghdad.

Since Mashhadani resigned in December, several lawmakers claimed delays in choosing a new speaker were an attempt to topple the Maliki government from within. With Iraq struggling to form provincial governments in the wake of the January elections and political turmoil simmering in Baghdad, optimism over the durability of political gains may face future tests.

Kurds meet U.N. on Kirkuk

Kurdish authorities in Iraq met with top U.N. officials to discuss Kirkuk and the so-called disputed territories as regional tensions simmer.

U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura met during the weekend with Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, to discuss proposals for settling jurisdictional issues over the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and the various disputed territories in Iraq, al-Sumaria reports.

Saddam Hussein had attempted to alter the regional demographics in the 1980s by driving Kurdish, Assyrian and Turkoman families from the region in an effort to control northern oil reserves. Several legal provisions seek to reverse that policy.

The KRG lays claim to the provinces of Erbil, Dahuk and Sulaimaniya, as well as portions of Diyala and Ninawa. Iraqi law calls for a census to settle the issue of demographics and power-sharing arrangements for matters of jurisdiction.

A constitutional committee on Kirkuk, however, has failed to meet a March 31 deadline, causing political tensions in the region to accelerate.

Several local communities have expressed their willingness to consider a special designation for Kirkuk that would classify the northern city as semiautonomous, with both the KRG and Baghdad sharing some measures of authority.

However, with the Kurdish provinces preparing for provincial elections tentatively in May and local communities warming to at least some level of power-sharing, Oxford Analytica said worries that the situation there could turn into widespread conflict may be unfounded for the time being.

Iraqi detainee describes horror-show treatment

The U.S. military's treatment of Iraqi prisoners does not fit with the broader agenda of establishing a national system based on human rights, detainees said.

A former Iraqi detainee told The Times of London that his experience during 18 months of detention at the Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca prison facilities could have been fodder for American horror movies.

"Going to Camp Bucca was a horror story fit for a film," the man said.

He described military personnel treating the throngs of Iraq prisoners as "herd of sheep," noting dogs were often used in harassing and intimidating situations.

He went on to say he was accused of a variety of violations, from assaulting American forces to kidnapping, adding that the charges carried a total 400-year prison term.

"My message to the U.S. military is, if you call for democracy and human rights, you should apply them as well," the man said.

The London Times interview comes on the heels of a report in The New York Times stating CIA officers had waterboarded Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed a total of 183 times as part of their extraordinary interrogation techniques.

Karzai calls for integrated solutions

Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed the broader U.S. strategy for his country but called for integrated solutions to strategic challenges.

In a Sunday interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Karzai said he shared a common vision with Washington on many parts of the Afghan strategy but called for a comprehensive approach to problem solving.

"We agree with almost all the elements of this strategy," he said. "Now, we must see to it that it's implemented in cooperation with Afghanistan and Pakistan in a manner that will get us closer to success."

Washington has said it would consider courting moderate elements within the Taliban regime as part of a broader reconciliation effort.

Karzai, for his part, said most of the mid-level commanders had returned to normal society following the initial U.S.-led invasion in 2001. He cautioned, however, that any effort to include the Taliban in Afghanistan needed an inclusive rather than a unidirectional approach.

"If you want to accomplish a local deal with a certain Taliban commander at a tactical level, good enough," he said. "But even that has to be done in agreement with the Afghan administration at the local, provincial level."

Parties merge for Afghan election

Two political parties in Afghanistan announced they would join forces with a unity candidate to run in the August presidential elections.

The People Unity Party, representing the Hazara minority group, and the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, which is influential in the northern provinces, said they would back a joint candidate, the Xinhua news agency reports, citing local media outlets.

Registration for candidates for the Aug. 20 contest opens April 25, but only a few leaders have come forward with their intent to run against incumbent President Hamid Karzai.

Nangarhar provincial Gov. Gul Agha Shirzai, a former warlord, is expected to mount a considerable challenge in the August race given his tribal ties and local leadership.

Meanwhile, Ali Ahmad Jalali, a former interior minister who taught at the U.S. National Defense University, may also emerge as a possible contender, though Afghans may be suspicious of his ties to Washington.

For his part, Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi, a former finance minister who holds a doctorate in political science from Northwestern University, leads a large Pashtun nationalist party that can influence some of the major Taliban supporters operating in the volatile eastern and southern provinces.

Karzai, who had called for early elections, is expected to seek another term.

New Zealand weighs Afghan troop commitment

The government of New Zealand has agreed to increase its troop presence in Afghanistan provided a viable exit strategy is in place, the prime minister said.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Monday he would agree to a request from the United States to send members of the elite Special Air Service to Afghanistan but needed more information on an exit plan, The New Zealand Herald reports.

The announcement follows a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully in Washington. Key noted, however, that the New Zealand effort was not meant to satisfy its allies in the United States.

"We have 140 people there; we can't leave them there in isolation," he said. "The challenge is how do we get out of Afghanistan."

The premier did not indicate when the government would make a decision to deploy additional forces to Afghanistan, but he suggested it would be in time to secure the August presidential elections there.

Apart from a modest military role in Afghanistan, New Zealand has several troops stationed there in support of provincial reconstruction teams. If approved, the SAS deployment would be its fourth mission to Afghanistan.

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(dgraeber@upi.com)