A power struggle has opened in Basra between the southern province's police commanders and the powerful Shi'a political currents of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), whose supporters have protested against the city's police commanders for the last two weeks, some calling for the resignation of the top two Basra cops.
In a fascinating Arabic-language report examining the recent eruption of tension between the SIIC, one of the many political currents vying for power in the southern port city, al-Malaf Press interviews leaders of the SIIC and the Basra police command, opening its piece with the scene of 300 people in the streets, mostly members of the SIIC and its affiliated organizations including the Badr organization, the al-Shahid al-Muharib organization, and the Iraqi Hizbullah group, led by Iraqi MP Daghir al-Mousawi. It is the eighth day of protests in front of the Basra police command building in the al-Tamimiya area of the city, and some chant slogans of "No No, Muhan, No No, Jalil!" referring to the two top police commanders in the oil-rich province. Other SIIC loyalists chant, "Just give the order Abu Ammar and we will sieze Basra," referring to Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, the father of Ammar al-Hakim. Some counterdemonstrators shout in response, "Yes to the police, Yes to Basra and the law!"
There do indeed appear to be differences between the SIIC on the one hand and the Basra police commander Maj. Gen. Abd al-Jalil Khalaf, and the commander of Basra operations Lt. Gen. Muhan al-Furayji on the other, the agency writes, but the nature and degree of the differences seem to differ depending on the point of view of who is describing them.
Some Basrawi observers say that the matter is merely a normal difference that would naturally emerge as provincial elections approach in the fall,
However, Maj. Gen. Abd al-Jalil Khalaf and Lt. Gen. Muhan al-Furayji seem to agree over not submitting Basra to the control of the locally powerful religious and political parties, including the SIIC, over the province that is considered the nerve center of the Iraqi national economy.
A number of observers of the Basra political scene said that it seems that the SIIC held the demonstrations to make a show of its popular forces before the Basra police command in order to send a hidden message to the other players that are trying to impose control on the local police, especially after recent reports that Muqtada al-Sadr may abandon political work, which may weaken the power of the Sadrist Current in Basra and in Iraq more generally.
It is noteworthy that the conflict seemed to rage in explicit religious and political terms lately, as some players try to score points against each other and try to increase their activities and forces, al-Malaf Press writes, adding that it seems that the recent assassination of a number of activists from the Badr corps and the al-Shahid al-Muharib organization are what pushed Basra to again become a "city that does not sleep except to the sound of gunfire by day and night," sounds that Basrawis tried to forget after the 1991 Gulf War when their city saw heavy fighting and damage.
SIIC officials
Furat al-Shar', the top SIIC official in Basra, is one of the big players in the local political scene, and enjoys good relations with most groups including Maj. Gen. Abd al-Jalil Khalaf, the agency writes. In an interview with al-Malaf Press, he said that the message that the demonstration sent out was not directed to the police commander per se. "We do not demand that he be dismissed, nor the commander of operations (Muhan al-Furayji), but we want to say to the world that our supporters are being killed every day" without justification, "and they are killed as the rest of Basra's people are being killed."
Al-Shar' continued, "We support all the operations and measures that the Basra police commander has undertaken, and which have contributed to the partial stability of security in Basra but in the recent period everyone has seen the targeting of our members and of Basra civilians, and this is something that we will not be silent about."
The local SIIC official added, "Through our peaceful demonstration, under the protection of the police, we express our support for the law and for the men who apply it."
Meanwhile, Hasan al-Rashid, a prominent leader in the local SIIC, and the former governor of Basra, said that demonstrators who decried Maj. Gen. Jalil or Lt. Gen. Muhan were "inflitrators," adding that "we stopped them" during the demonstrations, allowing instead what he suggested was the "true opinions" of the demonstrators to be expressed.
Yet these conciliatory remarks don't mask the reality that there are differences between the SIIC in its various currents and the police commander, al-Malaf Press writes. The differences started a week ago, the agency explains, when an SIIC leader, Hakim al-Miyahi, a member of the Basra provincial council and the chairman of its High Oversight Committee, denounced Maj. Gen. Abd al-Jalil Khalaf, Basra's police commander, accusing him of secretly planning a security scheme for Basra without consulting the elected provincial council or informing them of the plan.
Top cops
However, in pointed comments responding to the accusations, Khalaf defended his actions and denied the existence of any secret security plan, saying, "We did not impose a security plan to clear Basra, unlike what happened in Mosul or Baghdad or Diwaniya, rather we deployed a number of our forces and our men since the beginning of the Arba'iyin observance and we lately have increased the deployment after the assassination of (Interior ministry official) Col. Qasim 'Ubayd. The goal of this is only for the sake of stability and security and imposing the law, and we informed the provincial council of all the security plans that we have, and likewise we informed the governor of Basra, and there are weekly meetings with the commanders of the security agencies at Basra operations headquarters every Wednesday, attended by representatives of the High Oversight Committee. They broke off their attendance lately, but we are prepared to go out to a press conference with all the members of the Provincial Council to clarify all our plans and what the security forces have undertaken throughout the last six months.
The police commander added that "We have tried to purge our security agencies (of partisan elements) and we have arrived, by the help of God and the wholehearted contributions of the people of Basra, we have purged about 50 percent of the security agencies and we will work on the rest, to be a security force that all (Basrawis) can be proud of."
Maj. Gen. Abd al-Jalil Khalaf added that "I am in friendly contact with the leadership of the SIIC, as I am in friendly contact with most of the leaders of the Islamic and secular trends (in Basra) and I have all respect for them, but I have not and will not follow any of them."
However, the police commander's remarks turned more pointed when he added that, "It seems that some have attempted to score points by attacking Jalil Khalaf (referring to himself in the third person) or Lt. Gen. Muhan, because they seek (to garner support) in the elections. I believe that the Iraqi citizen today has become capable of distinguishing between whom to chose in the coming elections, and the majority of the political analysts have clarified this point, and I fear, as others do, a decline in electoral participation in the upcoming elections. There are those who seek to topple Jalil Khalaf and Lt. Gen. Muhan, perhaps (thinking that by doing this) he may control Basra in its oil riches and natural resources, but I affirm that (control of) Basra is a red line in front of everyone and (the city) will only stay Iraqi."
Lt. Gen. Muhan al-Furayji, Basra's operations commander, generally avoids the media limelight, but in the context of the smoldering tensions with SIIC supporters recently told a number of local media outlets that any party's "dream" of controlling Basra is only a "ridiculous joke," saying that "Basra is under the control of God, the government, and the people of Iraq."
The operations chief warned would-be pretenders to the control of Basra against challenging the security forces in the city, saying that the only thing he feared was the shedding of innocent blood, but added that "I don't believe that there is any difference between my friend and brother Gen. Khalaf and the Supreme Council or any other party."
The officer added that the Basra commanders enjoy the "respect and support of all the individuals and entities of the government, from the prime minister and president of the Republic, and the Interior and Defense and National Security ministries, and the national security advisor, and even . . . (within) the Parliament, about whom he added that, "if they (Iraqi MPs) are under the illusion of being able to remove Jalil or Muhan with the stroke of a pen," they have refrained from this, since the meaning of such a move "is clear that this would drive a wedge" into the "democratic" process by which he said he and Gen. Khalaf were appointed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
A mystery novel
However, from another viewpoint, al-Malaf Press consults a strategic analyst, identified only as R.A., who said that he believed that Maj. Gen. Abd al-Jalil Khalaf was a "stumbling block" in Basra, saying that as he has tried to bring the security agencies under the control of the central government, this has may have exacerbated security tensions in Basra, suggesting that the latest "war over Basra" began with the announcement of the dates of the upcoming provincial elections.
The analyst added that, in his view, the coming period would see increasing differences among the various players in Basra, not only between the SIIC and the police commanders, but also other political currents and Islamist and secular movements. He added that, in his opinion, "what we need now is a security plan that is similar to what happened in Diwaniya, Baghdad, or Karbala," implying that this would require the approval and participation of the local political forces to be successful.
The struggle for Basra will only intensify, al-Malaf Press suggests in its report, likening the unclear situation in the city to the plot of an "Agatha Christie novel," but noting that the stakes are much higher in this case than in a mystery thriller, since, according to the news agency, the future of Basra concerns the future of all of Iraq's economy and its millions of citizens.
The news agency closes its report noting that "the weakest party" in the local intrigue is the "Basra citizen," who continue to fear that the struggle for Basra will spawn more killings, and who labor to make it through each day to avoid the deadly attention of the armed groups that have made the southern city their battlefield.
Another allegation
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Hasan Kadhim, the general secretary of the SIIC-linked Badr organization in Basra, said that the security situation was "out of control" and that the security agencies had lost their grip on the events in the city, accusing the forces of only being interested in defending their positions.
Kadhim accused the security forces of being unable to prevent acts of killing and abduction that occur even nearby to security outposts in the city, according to media reports in Arabic.
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