Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – The Emirati academic, Abdul Khaliq Abdullah, said on Thursday, “The political elite that is currently running Iraq, including the Sunni and the Kurdish, especially the feuding Shiites, especially the Shiites marched by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, have offended Iraq’s people and country.”
Abdullah added, in a tweet via his Twitter account: “The political elite abused Iraq’s people, homeland, and identity, tampered with its resources and stole its resources more than the tampering and corruption of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist dictatorial regime over 30 years. And the head of the State of Law coalition, Nuri al-Maliki, carrying a “machine gun”, on Wednesday, coinciding with the storming of the Iraqi parliament by demonstrators.
Al-Maliki sparked controversy because of the spread of pictures of him and his armed men roaming in a street carrying a machine gun, as well as he appeared carrying a weapon in his office and behind him the Iraqi flag.
These pictures spread, following the head of the State of Law coalition issued a statement, Wednesday evening, in which he said that “the entry of demonstrators from any side to the courtyards of the House of Representatives in the Green Zone and violating the security protection of the region is a flagrant violation of the legitimate right to demonstrate… Intersections with the protections of MPs and officials.
He continued: “Therefore, the government of Brother (Mustafa) Al-Kazemi must assume its constitutional responsibilities to protect the security and social situation and avoid bloodshed among Iraqis, and use legitimate means to deter any attack on the prestige of the state and its institutions. The protesting brothers must immediately withdraw from the region and abide by the right of Demonstrate legally and not be drawn into calls for confrontation with the forces in charge of protection.”
Hundreds of angry demonstrators loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad on Wednesday, denouncing the nomination of Muhammad Shia al-Sudani for the position of prime minister.
Al-Sudani was officially nominated on Monday by the Coordinating Framework, the largest Shiite alliance in the Iraqi parliament, 9 months following the elections.