Miscellaneous updates

Al-Hayat publishes a lengthy account of statements by Sattar abu Risha (or Rishawi), head of the Al-Anbar Salvation Council, the main point being the following: Abu Risha said he now has a plan to bring together tribal leaders from all over Iraq in a council which will be called the Unity Assembly, with the aim of applying traditional tribal methods to the problems of sectarian violence. His next task in this, he said, will be to travel through central and southern Iraq to convince tribal leaders in those regions to join. He said the idea is his own "personal" one, will be under tribal auspices, and there won't be involvement by any other parties, governmental or non-governmental. The reporter doesn't offer any comments, either his own or those of anyone else.

In other comments, Abu Risha rejected offers by some other leaders to negotiate a settlement of his lawsuit with Harith al-Dhari of the Association of Muslim Scholars, insisting on a public apology first. On another issue, he said there has now been issued an official document by the Interior Ministry relating to the battalions of the Salvation Council, without indicating what that document says. Presumably it is some sort of acknowledgement of their legality in the eyes of the Interior Ministry. He discussed at length the question of what the battalions will be wearing, noting this is something he is responsible for personally, "although their other requirements will be supplied by the Ministry". He said a uniform resembling that of the current police forces was rejected on the basis it "lacks dignity", and he has chosen instead the uniform that was worn by the Special Forces under the prior [Saddam] regime. Abu Risha also made remarks about what percentage of various regions of Anbar his group already controls, and promised a statement soon about the complete freeing of the province from AlQaeda.

Meanwhile, Harith al-Dhari, head of the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq, is in Cairo, where he made statements that the Iraqi newspaper Azzaman takes up as its front-page top story this morning (Thursday November 23). Unfortunately, it appears "missing links" has itself missed a link or two here, resulting in my inability to make it crystal clear what al-Dhari is talking about. Nevertheless, in the expectation we will be able to fill in any gaps later, here is what today's report said:

"[Al-Dhari] said he was cutting off any participation-links with the Accord Council which is expected to meet next year bringing together the different Iraqi groups, saying 'We met with them twice and we agreed with them, but the other parties are not comitted'". The problem here is the Accord ("wifaq") Council: What is it?

In any event, the reporter observes: Efforts to arrive at a meeting of the minds between the various groups that oppose the political process while the occupation continues, have failed all year long, which would seem to imply that the Accord Council is an attempt to unify the resistance to the occupation, or one of the attempts.

Moving on to another topic, the reporter says Al-Dhari included in his statement something that appears to represent a change of position. He is a person who has been known for his absolute rejection of the presence of foreign troops in Iraq. But in yesterday's statement he called for foreign troops not to be withdrawn before there is a national Iraqi security force that isn't accused of being under the control of the governing political parties.

Finally, Al-Dhari accused Maliki of working for the separation of Iraq [into regions].