Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in Baghdad … responsible statements in a divided country
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned the Saudi ambassador to Baghdad, Thamer Sabhan to inform him of its official protest about the media comments in which he criticized the militia of the popular crowd. A spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Jamal said the Saudi ambassador’s remarks represent “interference in Iraqi internal affairs and coming out of the decency of diplomatic representation as he put it .,
The spokesman said the militia of popular crowd “fight terrorism and defend the sovereignty of the country and operate under the umbrella of the state and under the command of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and has parliamentary representation that makes it part of the political system,” he said.
This call came on the background of the inquiry of Saudi ambassador Thamer Sabhan in an “exclusive interview” program , the dialogue, was broadcast on Alsumaria channel on Saturday, about the reason for rejection of the Sunnis and the Kurds of the entry of the popular crowd to their areas and the Saudi ambassador said in this interview that the reason for this is the lack of acceptance to these parties on the part of the community.
These responsible statements of the Ambassador has raised the resentment of the Shiite political forces in Iraq noting that the MP for the coalition of law state Awatif Al-Nima has demanded the government and the Foreign Ministry to expel the Saudi ambassador from Iraq because of his blatant interference in Iraqi affairs and insult to the popular crowd and trying to stir sedition among the Iraqi people, indicating that in the event of his stay , he will face dire consequences. She added: “This Ambassador deliberately insulted the popular crowd which sacrificed with its blood for the Liberation of Iraq’s cities from the grip of terrorists Daash, and is aware that the popular crowd is an Iraqi military’s official body, and therefore his comments is an insult to the Iraqi state, and it was better for him to respect the sovereignty of the country in which he was allowed to co-exist on its land as an ambassador and not play with fire.
“For his part, the head of the parliamentary Aldaawa Coalition Khalaf Abdul Samad, condemned the remarks of the Saudi ambassador in Iraq towards the militias of popular crowd (Al-Hashd al-shaabi), calling on the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to intervene immediately and preserve the dignity of the Iraqi state and the expulsion of the Saudi ambassador from Iraq. The MP Kamil Al-Zaidi from the coalition of the law state, considered the Saudi ambassador’s remarks Thamer Sabhan as a blatant interference to the internal affairs of Iraq, calling on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be at the level of the challenge faced by the country. Zaidi said “the Saudi ambassador has to know the limits of his work,” stressing that the popular crowd is a basic corner in the protection of Iraq when it was attacked by Aldoaash and their supporters.”
The spokesman for the “popular crowd,” Ahmed al-Asadi has stated the following: “What is spoken by the Saudi ambassador exceeded all limits of the diplomatic decency . This is an excess to the crowd and the government and population and political majority, “referring to Iraqi Shiites. He asked “the Iraqi government and the Foreign Ministry to expel and punish the Ambassador on his impudent statements and direct incitement for sedition among the Iraqi people.”
And the jihad and construction movement called popular crowd body for the establishment of a lawsuit in the Iraqi and international courts against the Saudi ambassador in Iraq Thamer Sabhan on charges of abuse and defamation . Jihad movement stated in a press release saying : “Sabhan abusive remarks against the Iraqi people and the popular crowd come to inflame for sectarian charging and discrimination among the components of unified Iraqi people.”
This display of these aggressive statements of some Shiite Iraqi political forces that go beyond diplomatic norms not just to display but intended to indicate to the bad condition of Iraq reached with those forces. to confirm that Iraq ,with these statements , is endemic to the non-state. It is no secret for any one that the return of the Saudi diplomatic mission again to Baghdad after a hiatus of more than twenty-five years on the back ground of the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait on the second of August 1990, was not welcomed by Shiite political forces allied with the Iranian regime, they are not in favor of this return and also resist any Arabic influential and active presence negatively affect the Iranian influence in Iraqi entire scene, especially if this attendance by weighty state in the Arab ,Islamic , regional and international environment such as Saudi Arabia, so they found in the rational statements issued by the Saudi ambassador especially with regard to the issue of the popular crowd and who is responsible for providing protection to the crisis for the people of Diyala province, a favorable opportunity for abuse to Saudi Arabia and suspicion to its positive role in Iraq to keep it away and to the service of the Iranian regime.
It is worth noting that the pursuit to these statements comes to stand in front of one fact that the Shiite political forces to deal with the issue of Iraqi sovereignty in accordance with the principle of double standards. It conjures up this sovereignty and desperately defend in the face of Arab States, and summoned their ambassadors in order to maintain the sovereignty like the call for the Saudi ambassador, and completely miss talking about it in the face of the Iranian regime’s practices in Iraq, and the question : did they not listen to that the deserts of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq are both turned into training camps of Shiite Gulf, Yemen and Lebanon militias , to be subversive tools in their communities?!, did not they read or heard the statement by the Iranian President adviser for Religious Affairs and minorities Ali Yonsei that Iran is an Empire and its capital is Baghdad, and Iran and Iraq geography is indivisible and our culture is not subject to dismantling, so we have to fight together or unite?!. Did not also hear the or see the Goodwill Ambassador in Iraq, Qassem Soleimani who is a wandering in the provinces of Iraq, or that such acts and words are not a violation of Iraqi sovereignty or the sovereignty properties of political forces in a country different from other ?!
Establish to tell by watching the unit of Arab Studies in the links Center for Strategic Research and Studies for the dialogue done by Alsumaria with the Saudi ambassador Thamer Sabhan that the ambassador did not impinges or detract from the Iraqi sovereignty but rather the contrary, it was quite careful in the use of vocabulary because he realizes the nature of his work as a diplomat representing his country , responsible for his remarks , regarding to the questions posed by the Saudi ambassador in the course of the dialogue for the popular crowd and Diyala province, and what was taken place of killing based on a sectarian basis, they are of course questions came and occurred in the mind of all the followers of the Iraqi affair.
From objective review by researchers and Followers of the situation in Iraq , they realize that the tasks of the Saudi ambassador since coming to Iraq in this current month, will not be easy tasks, but very private in a sectarian and divided country , as Iraqi political forces allied with the Iranian regime seek to make it an Iranian protectorate, and taking it away from its the Arab depth.
Rawabet Research and Strategic Studies Center
