Former PM Allawi calls government dysfunctional, says security forces harbor Shia death squads, calls for removal of Maliki

Left: Ayad Allawi after addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Allawi was the interim Prime Minister of Iraq prior to the 2005 legislative elections. He has been working to form a new coalition, with the goal of replacing Maliki as Prime Minister.

Iraq govt dysfunctional: Allawi

Iraq's former prime minister, Iyad Allawi, has urged Australia to put more pressure on the Government in Baghdad to lift its game...

Mr Allawi has withdrawn the four ministers who represented his party and he says the Government has lost its legitimacy.

"There's no security, there is no political reconciliation. There are no services. The so-called National Unity Government, half of the Government is out now," he said.

Mr Howard's assertion that the Maliki Government is not dysfunctional is deeply controversial in light of the violence occurring in Iraq.

"The Iraqi people are being slaughtered, Sunnis and Shiites, both. The Government is dysfunctional. Everything is at a standstill and only violence is occurring in the country," Mr Allawi said.

Read the rest at the ABC

Shiite death squads inside Iraq security forces: former PM

Iraq's former prime minister Iyad Allawi says Shiite death squads are increasing their influence over the country's security forces.

Mr Allawi says members of the US-led coalition, including Australia, should do more to pressure the Iraqi Government into pursuing reconciliation.

"The Government is dysfunctional, everything is at [a] standstill and only violence is occurring in the country," he said.

Mr Allawi says the US-led coalition should withdraw the military protection it provides to government members if they do not make headway soon.

Read the rest at the ABC

Iraq needs new govt, says former PM Allawi

Iraqi former prime minister Iyad Allawi on Monday blasted the current government for being ill-equipped to halt the slide toward all-out chaos, and urged a nonsectarian replacement of the regime.

Allawi, whose mixed Sunni-Shiite Iraqi National List this month joined a boycott of the government led by Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, told US National Public Radio that the present government is fuelling the problems ravaging the country. “The whole situation is based on sectarianism and is anti-reconciliation,” Allawi said in the interview.

“I think the whole system ought to be changed, and a nonsectarian regime should prevail,” he said.

“Maliki is part of the sectarian system which is influencing and affecting the country negatively. And we cannot see recovery - political recovery that is to say - if this sectarian system remains operational in the country.”

Read the rest at the Daily Times

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