David Blackburn

The growing threat of a military coup in Iraq

Predictably, insurgency in Iraq has intensified as the March elections near; its scale and frequency was not predicted. Alastair Campbell beamed as a benevolent Uncle when talking about Iraq on Tuesday but Coalition diplomats fear for the democracy’s future.  British ambassador to Baghdad, John Jenkins, told the Chilcot inquiry:

“Iraq faces a real possibility of a military coup…Although I think where we are at the moment is much better than where we thought it was going be back in  2004-05 you only need look at the history of Iraq to understand that a realistic threat still exists.”

Ayad Jamal Aldin, a Shia cleric who leads the anti-corruption, anti-Iranian and pro-secular Ahrar party, is more stoical:

“If you look at the previous military coups within the country there was unity and loyal support between the senior officers, sub-commanders and soldiers.

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