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December 20, 2011

As U.S. Troops Leave Iraq; Iraqi Gov’t Issues Arrest Warrant For VP 
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President Obama and Vice President Biden plan to hold a ceremony at
Joint Base Andrews in Maryland today to mark the end of the Iraq War.
While U.S. combat troops have left Iraq, the United States will still
operate the largest embassy in the world in Baghdad and maintain a staff
of more than 15,000, including thousands of private security
contractors. Meanwhile Iraq is in a state of political turmoil. On
Monday, the Shiite-led Iraqi government issued an arrest warrant for
Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Muslim, for suspected ties to
assassinations and bombings. Some analysts fear the development could
push Iraq back into sectarian turmoil between Shiites and Sunnis.
Hashemi accused the Iraqi government of failing to push for
reconciliation between sectarian groups.

Tareq Al-Hashemi, Iraq’s Sunni Vice-President: "(Reconciliation) is
one of the projects that the government has failed at unprecedentedly,
and ... the reason is that there is no real intention for national
reconciliation. There is no real will for reconciliation."

Earlier today, Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi denied any
wrongdoing.



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