The Digital Diplomat

Is Maliki His Own Man?

by Justin Delabar on 29/11/08 at 6:35 pm

Robert Dreyfuss believes that Maliki pushed ahead with the Status of Forces Agreement because he was given the implicit go-ahead by Iran.  Perhaps that would explain why he was so amendable to accepting the Sunni bloc’s  demands for re-visiting the Iraqi constitution and placing the agreement up for national referendum — if Iran was content with the expected outcome, so too could he be. But I find the Iranian connection to Maliki himself overstated, especially since dependence on Iranian support could be political anathema for one who has been considered too open to foreign influence in the recent past.  It is often forgotten, but Shi’ite Iraq and Iran are two seperate countries with differing languages and cultures, and Iraqi nationalism is a force that supercedes sectarian lines.  Then again, openly defying Iran’s will would have made it near impossible for Maliki to gain any sort of traction, especially considering Iran’s influence within the Iraqi Shi’a political sphere, specifically through the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. Maliki is walking a very thin line between domestic political concerns and foreign pressures — if he is capable of increasing the Da’wa party’s presense in parliament next year, it would not be overly surprising to see him forge a more independent path going forward. Maliki’s creation of “support councils”, which I mentioned yesterday, suggests that he has become tired of being played as a puppet on all sides by numerous actors — including Iran.