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A Sad And Tragic Story Of Mithal al-Alusi

THE sad case of Mithal al-Alusi:

First his two sons were murdered. Now he faces prosecution. The reason for Mithal al-Alusi’s troubles? Visiting Israel and advocating peace with the Jewish state — something Iraq’s leaders refuse to consider.

The Iraqi is at the center of a political storm after his fellow lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to strip him of his immunity and allow his prosecution for visiting Israel — a crime punishable by death under a 1950s-era law. Such a fate is unlikely for al-Alusi, though he may lose his party’s sole seat in parliament.

Because he had visited Israel, many Iraqis assume the maverick legislator was the real target of the assassins who killed his sons in 2005 while he escaped unharmed.

Now he is in trouble for again visiting Israel and attending a conference a week ago at the International Institute for Counterterrorism.

“He wasn’t set to speak, but he was in the audience and conversed with a lecturer on a panel about insurgency and terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel,” said conference organizer Eitan Azani. “We didn’t invite him. He came on his own initiative.”

Al-Alusi has a German passport, allowing him to travel without visa restrictions imposed on other Iraqis. Lawmakers accused him of humiliating the nation with a trip to the “enemy” state.

Says the man:

Al-Alusi said Iraq should follow Jordan and Egypt in seeking peace with Israel, especially since Syria is moving in that direction. He insists Israel would have to make concessions to the Palestinians.

“We should act now because if the Syrian-Israel talks succeed, this means that Iraq will be isolated,” he said. “It’s the right time to open a new phase with Israel.”

Will the bigots let him..?

Anorak

Posted: 23rd, September 2008 | In: Politicians, Twitterings, War On Terror Comments (3) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink

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ahmad says:
November 12th, 2008 at 6:05 am

we are a group of Iraqi people from kurd and christian even turkman people and we are supporting Mr Mitha -Al Alusi he is really MITHA of real democracy man I can say he is the second generation of our leader ( GHANDI OF IRAQ ) ABDUL KARIM QASSIM the only real Iraqi leader and I hope one day he is becoming the priminister of all Iraq from Zakho to the end of Abbadan and Kuwait to Establish real state of Iraq and we are and millions of Iraqi people with you dont listen to any one you are in the right way to Democracy also we can solve big economic problems in Iraq if you ask us with out any payment just for Alusi and Iraqi poor people

Ahmad
abusiness man in Holland

magnetite says:
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:00 am

I hope he succeeds, for Israel, for Palestine, for Iraq and for us and the USA. There should be more like him who are willing to talk.

Menachem Begin (who was, as a young man, full of fight and determination as a freedom fighter) initiated attacks of what could be called (in today’s terms) a ‘terrorist’ nature - against the British powers in the then Palestine during and after WW2; but went on to be jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Anwar Sadat in 1979 for the peace treaty forged between Israel and Egypt after the Camp David Accords. We ourselves (the British) eventually sat down with the IRA - talked, and peace reached.

We generally eventually wind up in a dialogue with those who we hate and fear, and when the powers-that-be come to terms with the fact that our religions are being hijacked for political purposes on both sides, and work to prevent this - then we may be able see the new enemy as another human being - as we have managed to finally do so many times with our old enemies.

Good luck, Mithal. If I wasn’t ready to swing a punch at God for allowing idiots and bigots to subvert his message of love, then I’d pray for your success too. As it is, I sincerely hope that you, and others like you, win out over the braying hatemongers.