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Iraq Inquiry Blames Sunni Vice President For Attacks

February 16, 2012

An Iraqi investigation panel says death squads under the command of Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi were behind years of fatal attacks on security officials and Shi'ite pilgrims.

Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council spokesman Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar did not offer any evidence to back up the panel's findings on February 16.

Hashemi has denied the charges and accuses Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of coordinating a smear campaign to consolidate power.

The country's independent judicial council appointed the nine-judge panel after the government last year issued an arrest warrant against Hashimi.

The warrant was issued on December 19, a day after U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq.

Hashimi is in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, where he has sought refuge from the central government in Baghdad.

Compiled from agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/iraq_inquiry_blames_sunni_vice_president_for_attacks/24486836.html

Copyright (c) 2012. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.