“This council is insignificant and has no political leverage,” Kubaissi said

By Ali Halani, IOL Iraq Correspondent

BAGHDAD, June 6 (IslamOnline.net) - Head of the Unified Iraqi National Movement (UINM) Ahmad al-Kubaissi hit out Thursday, June 5, at the occupation forces in Iraq for trying to create an insignificant role for the U.S.-sanctioned sevenfold Iraqi leadership council.

“This council is insignificant and has no political leverage,” al-Kubaissi told IslamOnline.net, noting that many Iraqis did not see this council in favorable light.

“If the Americans had been serious in their cooperation with the council’s members and willing to set up an interim Iraqi government, we would have helped and supported them,” he said.

Ever since their occupation of the country, the Americans have been hinting at the establishment of an interim Iraqi government “to shift the world attention from their occupation,” he charged.

The U.S.-installed council, formed in the wake of the downfall of the Iraqi regime, comprises the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), the Iraqi National Congress (INC), the Iraqi National Accord (INA), the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the Shiite Al-Da’wa Party and the Sunni National Democratic Party.

Kubaissi downplayed the importance of the council, noting that he was heading “a political movement aimed at bringing all Iraqis on board.”

When asked by IOL in April about the U.S. presence In Iraq and the possibility of joining an U.S.-installed government, al-Kubaissi said, “Yes, it is possible. This is now the destiny of the Iraqis and they must live with it.”

‘Multi-Faith Country’

Kubaissi further called for establishing “an open, multi-ethnic and multi-faith Islamic state,” rejecting that postwar Iraq would be based on one religious school.

He also reiterated that that “there is nothing more dangerous on the unity of the Iraqi people than the cloak of religion and that is why I do not support a religious government in Iraq at such point of time.”

He went on: “There are, in effect two Islams: the first one was sent down by Allah Almighty and is suitable for all Muslims worldwide…It is wonderful and provides for freedom, justice and equality.

“The second one is the work of a certain community or group, which stretches it to suit its own way. This version of Islam in not obligatory on anyone and does by no means represent the real Islam,” he said.

He further said that there were only three countries worldwide, which describes themselves as being “Islamic.”

“Iran which is a Shiite country that does justice to the Shiites and injustice to the Sunnis; Saudi Arabia, which is a scholastic country that throws its weight behind only one school and arbitrarily repress all other schools and Sudan where you find the religious partisan government, which supports one party and oppress other parties eve if they are Islamic-oriented,” Kubaissi explained.

He asserted that the Iraqi people did not want such examples, but “want the Islam sent down by Allah Almighty on his Messenger Mohammad (peace be upon him).”

The Iraqis want a country, not an Islamic one, but a country that is based on the Islamic principles just like other countries that are based on Christian, Communist or pagan principles, he added.

On the decision of the U.S. civil administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, to dissolute the Iraqi army and cancel the conference of the Iraqi opposition party, Kubaissi said it came as no surprise to him, noting that he asserted from the very beginning that “the Americans will not do any thing in the interest of Iraq.” 

On the Iraqi resistance, Kubaissi said he supports it but “after one or two years,” noting that Iraq was now under the U.S. occupation.