Iraqi Prime Minister Malaki vows to defeat terrorism
In his first public statement since the Wednesday’s carnage, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki assured Iraqis that its forces would defeat terrorism despite the year’s deadliest bombings. His address ignored remarks from a minister that the government had fallen into a false sense of security.
A few hours earlier, his foreign minister, Hoshiyar Zebari, said he suspected police or soldiers might have colluded in the attacks. Zebari also criticized Maliki’s decision to remove most blast walls from Baghdad’s streets, indicating it was one cause of the blasts.
In his address, Maliki said the perpetrators of the bombings on the foreign and finance ministries had been captured. “I want to tell the Iraqi people we are still in an open war against (the terrorists),” he said on state television. “I reassure the Iraqi people that the security forces can keep up the battle and achieve victory despite breaches here and there.”
These suicide truck bombings, effectively shattered the growing sense of stability in Iraq since the U.S. troops pulled out of urban centers and handed over security responsibility to their Iraqi counterparts.
They also dealt a crippling blow to Maliki himself as he prepares to contest the national election next January, looking to claim credit for a sharp fall in overall violence in the past 18 months, and public confidence in Iraq’s domestic security forces.
Foreign Minister Zebari summoned the media earlier today to his wrecked ministry and said he suspected police or soldiers must have helped.
“According to our information, there has even been collaboration between security officers and the murderers and killers,” he said, calling for a thorough investigation.
Zebari offered no direct evidence for the accusation, but said checkpoints and blast walls near the ministry had been removed due to a “false sense” of security.
Blast walls were piled up outside the ministry today in preparation for being reinstalled.