The ruling council in Iraq works to entrench the occupation and divide Iraq

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The ruling council in Iraq works to entrench the occupation and divide Iraq

A few days ago without any prior arrangement the American ruler, Paul Bremer left Iraq. He cancelled his previous engagements and headed for the White House. There he held a number of meetings with senior US leaders including the American president himself, George Bush. Before this visit and during it, there were statements of some senior officials relating to the bad performance of the Iraqi ruling council, such as: ‘The American administration is frustrated with the work of the council and the fact that members are only concerned about their own affairs.'

When Bremer returned on Friday 14/11/2003, he called an emergency meeting with the ruling council. The few remaining within Iraq attended; those living outside Iraq are greater than those living in it. Their American leader informed them of the new plan of his government for the administration of Iraq. After he had read out his orders the leader of the council Jalal Talbani came out to a press conference to announce, in his capacity as leader of the council, that an agreement has been made between him and Bremer in his capacity as the leader of the occupational authority. The following was mentioned in the press conference: in compliance with the national principles of the Iraqi people, in harmony with what the council has been striving for ever since its formation and in order to expedite the return of Iraqi sovereignty and independence, the Iraqi council has taken the following measures:

1. To enact a law for administration of the state during the transition period before the end of February 2004, which will include measures to elect the interim council and complete its election before the end of May 2004. This law expresses the principles on which there is a general agreement between the Iraqi people and they are the following:

• Respect for human rights and the basic freedoms; the freedom of belief, right to practise religion and equality between all citizens.

• Affirmation of the separation of powers.

• Having a degree of decentralisation in the administration of the provinces whilst taking into account the current situation in Kurdistan.

• Recognition of the principle of civilian control over the security forces and the army.

• Establishment of a democratic, federal, pluralist and united system which respects the Islamic identity for the majority of the Iraqi people whilst guaranteeing the right of other religions and groups.

This law includes a timeframe for writing a permanent constitution via a council elected directly by the Iraqi people, which will transfer the authority to an elected government according to the rules of the new constitution, before the end of 2005.

2. The interim council will take the responsibility of electing a temporary Iraqi government before the end of June 2004. It will practice political authority with an internationally recognised sovereignty. When authority is handed over the occupation will come to an end and the coalition authority will be dissolved and the ruling council's role will be terminated.

3. The work of the interim ruling council will continue and the new government that arises from it will continue till the ratification of the permanent constitution and the authority is transferred to an elected government according to its own rules.

Hizb ut-Tahrir, a political party that has adopted Islam as a thought and method has taken upon itself the responsibility of exposing the conspiracies and the conspirators, exposing the political plans of the colonialist states, and drawing the Ummah's attention to what her enemies, and the agents of her enemies, are plotting. The party clarifies to the Muslim Ummah in general and the Muslims in Iraq in particular that this criminal plan which the occupier has dictated to the Ruling Council is not only a blatant attempt to entrench the occupation and a move to divide Iraq, but its purpose is also to give legitimacy to and execute this crime at the hands of, and with the approval of, some of the sons of Iraq.

By issuing these resolutions, the ruling council is practicing the lowest forms of political deception against the Muslims. For instance, article 2 states that the interim council will elect a government possessing sovereignty, which is recognised internationally and there will be an end to the state of occupation. But this in no way means the occupier will leave. Rather what it means is that the occupier will remain, its occupation will continue with its military presence with the approval of the people of Iraq and not of the Security Council. This is because the presence of the occupying military forces with the consent and desire of the people of Iraq will be described with terms other than occupation such as military cooperation or joint defence.

As for Talabani's statement which he made in response to a question about the future of coalition forces that: ‘If you need them then we will request them to stay and if you think they should leave then we will say to them; farewell friends, thank you for helping the Iraqi people.' This is a blatant lie, which can only deceive the simple-minded people and not the aware politicians. The coalition forces under the leadership of America have not come to help the Iraqi people! They have come for reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with helping the Iraqi people. They did not come at the request of Talabani and his likes but rather they were tools for the coalition when they came; and their departure does not depend on his request or that of the impotent ruling council that he leads. This is confirmed and made definite by the statement of American officials themselves, not least the comments of the American president himself who said: ‘Our forces will remain in Iraq until democracy and a stable ruling system are established there'. And also what his secretary of defence, Ronald Rumsfeld stated on 16/11/2003 during his inspection of the American troops on the island of Okinawa in Japan, where he said that: "The United States of America will not withdraw from Iraq in the near future, and the political measures taking place in Iraq have nothing to do with U.S. troops and coalition troops in Iraq…The timetable or the way ahead that the (Iraqi) Governing Council has been describing relates to the governance aspects of the country and not to the security aspects.' This is confirmed by what Paul Bremer stated to one of the American television channels after his meeting with the Ruling Council: ‘US forces will remain in Iraq. We will be requesting the forthcoming Iraqi government to give approval for our stay.'

The conspiracy against Iraq in particular and against the Muslims in general has not finished yet; rather it is still in its formative stages. America does not wish to leave Iraq in the foreseeable future. She has started to interfere in Iraq so as to reach the rest of the Muslim areas in the region. This is what her leaders and politicians are stating continuously. If she really wanted to give sovereignty to Iraq and its people then she would have withdrawn her forces, because the departure of the military forces is the first step towards returning sovereignty to its people. As for staying and controlling all aspects of political, economic and military life, this can hardly be described as giving sovereignty back to its people. Today there is no army in Iraq. The army is a basic pillar of sovereignty. There is no ministry for defence, media, Ummah council, constitution or any other manifestation of sovereignty. Iraq is an occupied country. All its resources are in the hands of the occupier, and all its political decisions are made by the occupier whether directly or indirectly through agents he has planted in the ruling council or the government which has not power or authority. They have no power over themselves let alone others.

The new American plan for is Iraq to hold elections and appoint a government that will rule on behalf of the people of Iraq and sign the cheque of approval for the forces of occupation to stay; such that they will be given legitimacy because their presence is because of the approval and request of the people. This will remove the image that other states or the Security Council is interfering in Iraqi affairs and give America the right to dispose of all Iraqi affairs. So she will replace a council or government with a council or government that has - on the face of it - been elected, in order to give legitimacy to the occupation since the one who allowed her to stay and maintain her presence is the legitimate and elected government of Iraq! A new constitution will be drawn up for Iraq under the supervision of the occupier that entrenches the division and divides the state under the pretext of federalism. This will kindle the fires of sectarianism and preoccupy the Muslims amongst themselves instead of working to expel the occupier.

This plan is the worst political action for the future of Iraq and the Muslims of Iraq. Every concerned Muslim is obliged to strive to uproot this plan and not participate in the elections. They should not accept to be a member of any council or government as long as a single soldier remains from the occupation forces. If he does this then he will be sinful and deserves the punishment of Allah.

What led George Bush and his government to announce his new plan was the intensification of the Iraqi resistance and the expansion of their effectiveness in terms of time and place day after day. This made his government fear a fate like that of his father in the coming presidential elections. Especially since preparations for the elections have begun and polls are showing that there is a relative decline in his popularity where more than half of the American people are not happy with his administration and not convinced with the reasons, which led him to justify his aggression against Iraq. The news agencies have reported the following news: the CIA has submitted a report to the American president about the increase in public sympathy for the resistance and the increase in the general anger of Iraqis due to the lack of security, bad economic situation and deterioration of basic services despite months passing after the occupation.

The American administration needs help to raise the popularity of its president and they did not find anyone better than Talabani and the Ruling council to announce the resounding victory in Iraq, and that Iraq has begun its first steps towards democracy and stability. This was done in order to raise Bush's popularity after the decline in morale of his forces in Iraq and the increase in the number of soldiers returning to their country in coffins.

The Islamic Ummah, including Iraq, is yearning to be united in the Islamic Khilafah Rashidah on the way of the Prophethood and not to be divided even more under the slogans of federalism and decentralisation. The Muslims of Iraq, whether Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, Sunni or Shi'ah, reject the occupation. They reject any council or government set up under the spear of occupation and they do not recognise this ruling council or any other council as having any legitimacy. They consider the resolutions and agreements made under the shadow of occupation as invalid, void and not binding. They remind Talbani and others from the accomplices of the council that the sincere people who are concerned for their Deen and Ummah will expel the occupation. They will be the successful ones with the Victory of Allah in the Dunya and His Good Pleasure in the Akhirah. As for the conspiring traitors their hour of reckoning will come in this world; and in the Hereafter there is a lasting
punishment.

He (subhanahu wa ta'aala) said:

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"Allah has decreed: ‘Verily! It is I and My Messengers who shall be the victorious.' Verily, Allah is All-Powerful, All-Mighty" [TMQ 58: 21].

Hizb ut-Tahrir
Wilayah of Iraq
24 Ramadhan 1424 AH
18/11/2003