The raids on the home and offices of Adnan al Dulaimi, leader of the Accordance Front, the largest Sunni bloc in parliament, highlight the real need to hold elections in Iraq. After discovering weapons and a car bomb near Dulaimi's offices on Thursday, U.S. and Iraqi troops conducted a follow-on raid at his home on Friday turned up another car bomb. Dulaimi's son was arrested along with 29 others. One of Dulaimi's bodyguards held the keys to the car. Reuters has the details:
Seven people were arrested on Thursday at Dulaimi's office and 29, including Dulaimi's son Mekki, were seized in a raid early on Friday at Dulaimi's house, said Brigadier General Qassim Moussawi, security spokesman for Baghdad.
"We have also found quantities of weapons and uniforms of the army and police at the home of Dr. al-Dulaimi," he told Reuters. "Dulaimi's bodyguards are suspected of having links to car bombs and killings. There are confessions against them."…
Moussawi said the car bomb was found when security forces chased a suspected fugitive involved in a shooting into Dulaimi's compound.
The U.S. military said one of Dulaimi's guards had a key to the car that was rigged as a bomb. Two bystanders were hurt when one of the guards escaped, and five American soldiers and one bystander were hurt in the controlled blast when the car was destroyed, the U.S. military said in a statement.
Dulaimi, who is immune from prosecution due to his status as a member of parliament, may have his immunity lifted if he is found to be directly linked to the car bomb, weapons, and uniforms. "No one is above the law. Dr Adnan al-Dulaimi has immunity, but this does not exempt him from questioning and accountability," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said according to Reuters.
This isn't the first time Sunni members of parliament have been implicated in working with the insurgency and al Qaeda. Accordance Front member Naif Mohammed Jasim was arrested on October 4 for sitting in on a meeting with leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq. Mishan al Jabouri, a former member of the Iraqi parliament and leader of the Sunni Arab Front for Reconciliation and Liberation, left the country in 2006 after being charged with corruption for embezzling government funds and supporting al Qaeda. Jabouri formed al Zawraa TV, a propaganda arm of the Islamic Army of Iraq.
Sunni parliamentarians and their bodyguards have been implicated in smuggling weapons into the Green Zone. A car bomb targeted Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, then the parliament's speaker, in October 2006. Muhammad Awad, a Sunni member of parliament, was killed in an al Qaeda bombing in April of 2007. In March of 2006, al Qaeda nearly pulled off a mini-Tet offensive by infiltrating the Green Zone and getting bombs into the secured areas. Sunni parliamentarians and their bodyguards have been accused of being behind these plots.
Sunni groups such as the Association of Muslim Scholars, which has provided support for al Qaeda, advocated a Sunni people boycott of the 2005 elections, and then put up their own candidates for office. The current crop of Sunni politicians by and large do not represent the Sunni people. In Anbar province, the Awakening movement is believed to a serious challenger to the Sunni Accordance Front. New elections may clean out the current crop of corrupt, criminal, and in some cases, terrorist supporting Sunni politicians.
