Baghdad, February 27: After the warm-up acts for Iraq’s prime minister nearly broke down in tears reciting anti-sectarian poetry, there could be no doubt about the Shiite leader’s message to tribal leaders from the Sunni heartland.
“We are all brothers, Sunni and Shiite,” began a chant in the auditorium, where hundreds of tribal leaders in Arab head dresses and flowing robes had gathered to hear Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki speak as part of his campaign for a March 7 vote.
Another chant followed: “Iraq is our mother and father.”
Maliki is trying to convince Iraqis tired of sectarian slaughter that he is a nonsectarian nationalist.
In a country where sectarian violence has killed tens of thousands since 2003, many people see the rhetoric adopted by Maliki and others from parties as pure campaign fluff.
Standing before some 600 tribal leaders from Saddam Hussein’s home province of Salahuddin on Friday, Maliki had some convincing to do after backing in recent weeks a purge of poll candidates with alleged links to Saddam’s Baath party.
Sunnis, a minority who lost their grip on power after the ousting of Saddam, saw the candidate ban as yet another attempt to push them to the political sidelines.
The March election is seen as crucial in bolstering Iraq’s young democracy ahead of a planned US troop withdrawal due by 2012. The inclusion of more Sunnis in politics is hoped to dampen support for insurgents like Al-Qaeda.
“There’s been no national reconciliation. There should be equal rights for all, Baathist or not,” said Mohammed Ridden, a skeptical audience member, holding his hands out flat and level.
Ridden was one of the few who voiced dissent among the hundreds in the hall who had traveled some 150 km from Salahuddin to a Baghdad hotel to hear Maliki speak.
“We see that the prime minister is the most nationalist candidate,” said tribal representative Waleed Al-Jubouri.
The fact that the trip, meals, and a night’s stay in one of Baghdad’s top hotels appeared paid for by Maliki’s coalition may have contributed to the high spirits. The sheikhs, effectively Maliki’s guests, were loath to openly criticize their host.
Wooing tribal leaders is crucial in Middle Eastern politics, where they can hold sway over hundreds of voters.
No State of Law official was available at the event to confirm who footed the hotel bill. Tribal leaders spoken to by Reuters said they had not paid and were guests of State of Law, largesse not possible for other, smaller Iraqi election coalitions.
In Maliki’s other campaign stops, media reports and at least one local official who declined to be named said State of Law had handed out substantial gifts. Reuters journalists were also offered a gift at Maliki’s rally on Friday.
Picked as a relatively obscure compromise candidate in 2006, Maliki has powerful opponents in the Shiite south and is likely to need Sunnis and other minorities if he is to cling to power.
For the first five minutes of his 40-minute speech, he spoke only of the brotherhood of Iraq’s sectarian and ethnic groups, before going onto familiar topics of security and the economy.
After the rally, most people leaving the hall, decorated in banners praising the people of Salahuddin and featuring Maliki in mid-speech with his fist raised, gave positive reviews.
But tribal representative Ridden was still skeptical.
“I’m not convinced till I see some change on the ground.”
——-Agencies