Bush demands reconciliation with little evidence that it is possible, reports Nermeen Al-Mufti US officials usually come to Iraq unannounced. Not this time. President Bush's upcoming visit to Iraq made it into the official newspaper Al-Sabah, although without official confirmation. The US president is expected to urge the Iraqis to work harder on bringing the security situation under control and get on with national reconciliation plans. More importantly, the US president is suggesting a long-term agreement defining future relations between Baghdad and Washington. On Friday, an official in the Sadr Current warned Iraqi officials against signing such an agreement, saying that Iraq must not be placed under US "mandate". But Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim of the Higher Islamic Council begs to disagree. He called on Iraqi officials to sign an agreement defining the role of coalition forces in Iraq. Salah Al-Obeidi, spokesman for Moqtada Al-Sadr, said that the signing of any agreement with the US forces would amount to a new mandate in Iraq. "As far as we know, the US forces are here to implement US resolutions. To hold talks with them is to recognise them as a mandate authority," Al-Obeidi stated. Parliamentarians from the Iraqi List, the Turkomen Front, the Sadr Current, the Fadila Party, the two wings of Al-Daawa Party, and the National Dialogue Front met recently to discuss national unity and the distribution of national resources, especially oil. A source who attended the meeting said that an agreement was reached to launch a national effort to preserve Iraq's unity. The Sunni Accordance Front, he added, is thinking of joining that effort. With the exception of the Islamic Party, the Accordance Front is opposed to Kurdish attempts to control Kirkuk and the surrounding oil- rich region. Assaults on members of the Awakening Councils continue unabated. On Monday, 14 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Al-Azamiya. Among the dead was Riyad Al-Samaraai, head of the Al-Azamiya Awakening Council. Earlier, a roadblock manned by personnel from the Awakening Councils was targeted by a suicide bomber in Baaquba. Three other members of the Awakening Councils were assassinated in Biji and south Baghdad. Leaders of the Awakening Council have accused Iran of supporting Al-Qaeda, while criticising the Iraqi government for failing to protect them. Shojaa Al-Azami, chief of the Al-Ghazaliya Awakening Council, was so incensed that he accused the Iraqi government of involvement in the killings of Awakening members. Raad Ali Hassan, chief of the Al-Dawra Awakening Council, said that the Mahdi Army killed some Awakening personnel for sectarian reasons. Karim Al-Moeni, chairman of Al-Sayidiya Awakening Council, accused the Iranian-backed Qods Brigade of targeting Awakening officials. Sporadic violence continues to plague other parts of the country. Colonel Moayyad Mohamed from the Nineveh police escaped unscathed from a bomb placed under his car. A katuysha rocket landed on the Al-Iraqiya TV building in Karkuk, causing extensive damage. Six churches and a convent were attacked in Baghdad and Mosul. The attacks were timed to coincide with Christmas celebrations at eastern and orthodox churches. The Petroleum Ministry said that an engineer was killed and two other employees injured in a massive fire in the Biji refinery, north of Baghdad. The fire was caused by an unexplained explosion in a gas production unit. Back home from London where he received medical treatment and met the British prime minister, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki cancelled Army Day celebrations for security reasons. You may recall that the army was disbanded by US civilian administrator Paul Bremer in May 2003, upon the advice of some Iraqi opposition parties. Some of those same officials still oppose Army Day celebrations out of loyalty to Tehran. A delegation from the Arab League, led by Assistant Secretary-General Ahmed Bin Heli, is expected to arrive in Baghdad within days in a bid to revive national reconciliation efforts. But Deputy Faleh Al-Fayyad, head of the Higher Committee for National Dialogue, ruled out the possibility of holding a reconciliation conference in Cairo anytime soon. Zafer Al-Ani, spokesman for the Accordance Front (AF), said that the AF is ready to work on reconciliation with the Arab League so long as no Iraq party is banned from attending the talks. "It is unfortunate that the decisions passed by reconciliation conferences since 2005 haven't been implemented," he said. Al-Ani wants the Baath Party and resistance group representatives to take part in reconciliation efforts. Will the ban on the Baath Party be finally rescinded? So far the parliament seems to be having trouble with the idea. It failed once again to pass the accountability and justice law, which was supposed to supplant the law banning former Baath officials from participating in public life.
