NOURNEWS - Baghdad's increased travel with some Gulf states in the run-up to Iraq's general election has raised concerns among a range of political elites who are critical of the sectarian policies of the Saudi and UAE regimes in the region.
Iraqi Prime Minister al-Kadhimi's recent visit to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ostensibly led to several memoranda of understanding, and the two countries promised to increase their role in the Iraqi reconstruction process. They have promised to invest $ 6 billion in Iraq, but not a dinar has been received from the previous promises!
This incident and some positions of the Iraqi government have caused the political spectrums in this country to express concern about the increasing influence of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi on the eve. At the same time, such investments are very important and vital for Iraq, which is at war and involved in various crises. So why are Iraqi politicians so worried about the future of improving relations with Saudi Arabia and the UAE?
An Iraqi analyst believes that the Gulf states have taken action against some Iraqi political groups and are seeking to win the election.
The Iraqi parliamentary elections are scheduled for June this year. In an interview with Al-Ma'loumeh news website, Karim al-Khaikani assessed these measures in order to form a government in line with the compromise plan with the Zionist regime, which was implemented during the Trump era and has led to the normalization of relations between several Arab countries.
The distrust of Saudi Arabia and the UAE in Iraq stems more than anything from the sectarian policies of the two countries and their efforts to undermine internal cohesion in Iraq, a country that has witnessed popular participation in politics since the fall of Saddam Hussein and the fall of the Ba'athist dictatorship.
Armed support for tribes opposed to the central government, attempts to infiltrate political parties with the aim of creating divisions, supporting the disintegration of Iraq, and playing a role in empowering takfiri groups such as ISIS are among the bitter memories of Persian Gulf sheikhdom relations with post-Saddam Iraq.
Over the years, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have not evaluated and worked against the rise of Baghdad and the deepening of national sovereignty in Iraq solely on the grounds that it has good relations with Iran.
The emergence of the Islamic Awakening and the tangible lack of legitimacy in the reactionary Arab regimes led the Gulf states to pursue stricter policies against their opponents. Following the popular uprising in Bahrain and their peaceful protests, Saudi forces entered the country and killed the opposition.
Saudi Arabia, along with a coalition of several Arab governments, has waged a bloody war against Yemen since 2015, largely due to the growing power of independent movements in the country, which has turned into a humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.
Riyadh and its allies are the most important supporters of the Salafi-Takfiri movements in the region, mainly terrorist movements that sought to genocide their opponents of all ethnicities and religions with the aim of establishing a caliphate, and pursued this demand during the Iraq-Syria civil war.
Inside Saudi Arabia, the crackdown on dissent has intensified in recent years, sparking international protests. The Saudi army has repeatedly attacked eastern Saudi cities since 2015, when bin Salman came to power, and many civilians have been killed.
In 2016, the Saudis severely suppressed opposition protests and executed their spiritual leader, Ayatollah Sheikh Nimr, after torturing him, detaining and torturing thousands of people, and hundreds of whom were either executed or sentenced to long prison terms. They cut off their heads. However, some of these victims were at the time of the child's arrest in accordance with UN conventions.
With this bad record, the intention of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to try to improve relations with Baghdad in the run-up to the elections is questioned by some political spectrums as well as public opinion in Iraq.
Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have shown that democratic societies see the pursuit of their individual and social rights in West Asia as opposed to and vitally opposed to their vital interests, and their policies in Iraq have been in line with this approach.
According to this; their influence in Iraq, whose people have found an opportunity for effective political participation in their country after a century, may further weaken the central government and intensify instability.
BY: Mohammad Ghaderi
NOURNEWS