Press Release by office of Struan Stevenson, President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq
The Iraqi Prime Minister – Nouri al-Maliki – has been accused of a genocidal campaign against the Sunni population by a senior Euro MP. Struan Stevenson, a Scottish Conservative member of the European Parliament and Chair of the important Delegation for Relations with Iraq, says that the massive Iraqi military assault on Fallujah and Ramadi in al-Anbar Province is the latest phase in Nouri al-Maliki’s campaign to eliminate all opposition to his regime prior to the elections on 30th April.
Speaking from the European Parliament in Brussels, Struan Stevenson said: “Maliki’s ruthless leadership has seen leading elected Sunnis purged from the government and a relentless campaign of terror in all of Iraq’s Sunni Provinces. The Sunnis have risen up in protest, holding peaceful demonstrations in cities like Fallujah and Ramadi for the past year. In response, Maliki has ordered massive military onslaughts on these cities, claiming that they have been overrun by Al Qaeda and jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), which is utter nonsense. He has, however, convinced his American allies that he is fighting a war on terror and they are pouring in rockets, drones and other military hardware which Maliki is using to bomb and kill civilian Sunni targets.
“Sickened by the slaughter of defenceless Iraqi civilians, many Iraqi officers and men have defected, joining forces with the tribal leaders in al-Anbar who are mounting a strong fight-back. The prospect of civil war is now a reality. The US, UN and EU need to wake up quickly to this rapidly deteriorating situation. They have to realise that their support for Maliki was grossly misguided. He has destroyed Iraq. We have replaced Saddam Hussein with another violent and despotic dictator who, sadly, takes his orders from the fascist mullahs in Tehran. The West cannot stand by and watch the genocide of Iraq’s Sunnis.”
