Iraq brought confrontation with America to the arena of politics.
America occupied Iraq in 2003 to make this country the center of its rule over West Asia, but now it has become a disaster. According to what the US Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday (November 23), since the beginning of the Gaza war, Iraqi resistance groups have attacked the country’s bases in Iraq and Syria 55 times. These groups have attacked areas in the south of occupied Palestine several times. On Monday evening, the Iraqis entered a new phase of their attack on American interests. Mohammad al-Halbousi, the speaker of the Iraqi parliament, who was the key supported by Washington and one of the effective factors in bringing his country into the process of normalizing relations with Israel, fell from political life; A big step that shows that the Iraqis have brought the war to the political arena.
In the verdict of the Iraqi Federal Court, which was published on Tuesday (November 14), it is stated that this court revoked the membership of the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Mohammad Halbusi. This ruling is final and therefore non-appealable. In addition to being removed from the head of the parliament, Halabousi is no longer considered a representative. The verdict of the federal court was issued following the complaint of two members of parliament against Halabousi.
The first complaint was filed by Bassem Khashan, an independent representative, who said that he had obtained documents that “end Halbousi’s political life!” According to the court ruling, it was clear that these documents were related to Halbousi’s cooperation with Israeli companies. Leith Al-Dalimi was the second plaintiff of Halabousi. Delimi was a member of the “Tadegh Party” headed by Halbousi, but after some time he decided to join the rival movement. As a result, Halbousi announced that Delimi had resigned from the parliament, but he denied it and claimed that his resignation letter was forged. However, in its ruling yesterday, the Iraqi Federal Court also canceled Dalimi’s representation. This shows that Halabousi’s main accusation is his relations with Israeli companies, which are said to be related to Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Israel. This crime can have consequences such as execution for those who violate the law “Criminalizing any kind of effort towards the recognition of the Zionist regime”.
Who is al-Halbousi and how did he rise?
Al-Halbousi has a personality like Rafiq Hariri in Lebanon. In sectarian Lebanon, where the country is divided into various religious groups, the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf trusted a young and handsome engineer to lead the Sunnis who held the prime minister’s quota, instead of large traditional families. In the absence of credibility and political history, Hariri’s supporters prepared a plan to promote him. Hariri, who first taught in Saudi Arabia and then emerged as a successful civil engineer, became Lebanon’s prime minister to rebuild the country after 15 years of civil war. Billions of dollars of foreign aid money were given to private companies of the Hariri family to build buildings, roads, and hospitals in Lebanon. These buildings were built but with a very high-profit margin for Harris. With this program, Hariri became very popular among Lebanese Sunnis.
This program was also implemented in Iraq. After ISIS invaded Iraq and succeeded in occupying the Sunni areas of Iraq, these areas were destroyed by doors and military vehicles. Halabousi, who studied construction, in the guise of the governor of Anbar, began to rebuild this province; Mainly with the financial assistance of the UAE and the guidance of Turkish construction companies.
The money splurges worked and he managed to take over the leadership of a large sect of Sunnis in the shadow of his popularity. The continuation of Arab and Western support made some Sunni movements accept Halabousi’s leadership with threats or enticements; The opposition to him, however, continued seriously among Sunnis. The pressures were so high that he was elected as the speaker of the parliament in 2018.
Controversial actions of al-Halbousi
Halbousi has played a role in two controversial and three challenging processes during his presidency. The first stage refers to his acting during the vote for the government bill to “expel foreign soldiers” from Iraqi soil.
The Iraqi government introduced this bill in the parliament immediately after the assassination of General Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, the head of the Hashd al-Shaabi operation, which took place on January 13, 2018. Following this action, the parliament approved the said plan only two days after the Baghdad airport operation against the resistance commanders on January 15.