Irak: splittelse i den Baathistiske del af "modstanden"

I Irak er der tegn på, at den del af "modstanden" der er styret af afdøde Saddam Husseins nationalsocialistiske Baath-parti er kommet ud i alvorlige interne stridigheder:

On one side of the power struggle is Izzat Ibrahim, the highest-ranking member of Hussein's inner circle to evade capture. The king of clubs in the Bush administration's "deck of cards" that depicted the most wanted members of Hussein's regime, Ibrahim was Hussein's chief deputy and has been viewed as a ringleader in the insurgency.

The forces apparently seeking to oust Ibrahim from his leadership of the Baath movement are led by a former general in Hussein's army, Mohammed Yunis Ahmad.

U.S. officials learned of the infighting after a meeting in the northwestern Syrian town of Halab that military and intelligence officials believe involved Baath Party leaders.

The meeting in January, shortly after Hussein's hanging, led to an apparent split in the movement...

Although accounts of the meeting in Halab vary, U.S. military and intelligence officials said partisans loyal to Yunis "hijacked" the session and expelled Ibrahim and others affiliated with him, declaring the ex-general the new party head.

The U.S. military official said Ibrahim, who was not at the meeting, quickly responded by issuing a communique denouncing Yunis and declaring that he was no longer a member of the party."

Yunis orchestrated this meeting and did so without what appears to be the consent of Ibrahim," the military official said. "There was a walkout at the meeting, and clearly Ibrahim's camp and his followers, or those who thought that the meeting was going to do harm to Ibrahim and their interests, walked away from it. Hence you have the split."

Der er imidlertid uenighed om, hvordan de interne stridigheder i "modstanden" skal tolkes. Afhængigt af visse kilder man lytter til kan det således ses som en rent intern begivenhed, hvor Baath-partiets militære gren under Yunis har taget over fra den politiske gren under Ibrahim, eller der er tale om en begivenhed med regionale konsekvenser. I sidste tilfælde ses Ibrahim som repræsentant for en mere uafhængig Baath-linie baseret på tilgængelighed til financielle midler uafhængigt af værtslandet Syrien, mens Yunus, der ikke har tilsvarende uafhængige kilder, ses som Syriens lakaj.

I sidstnævnte tilfælde er der så tilløb til, at Syrien prøver at få fuld kontrol over Baath-partiet, så det kan bruges som forhandlingsbrik i en studehandel med USA, der skal sørge for at retsforfølgelsen af Syriens diktator Bashar Assad for mordet på den tidligere libanesiske premierminister Rafiq Hariri bliver opgivet.

Uanset hvad har den irakiske regering imidlertid optaget kontakt med Yunis, og afventer hvilke resultater en sådan kontakt kan føre til.