Israel Matzav

Iraqi legislator faces death sentence?

Iraqi MP Mithal al-Alusi (pictured) may be facing a death sentence for having visited Israel.

Fellow MP's voted on Monday to strip him of his parliamentary immunity so that he may be tried for treason under a law that dates to the 1950's. Al-Alusi's two sons have already been murdered due to his political views. 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.

My initial reaction to this was that the US has troops in Iraq and for all intents and purposes controls the country. But the State Department has apparently decided that this is an 'internal Iraqi issue.'

The US Embassy declined comment. "It is an issue for the Iraqi parliament, not the US Mission to Iraq," said spokesman Armand Cucciniello

Is this what hundreds of American troops died for in Iraq? To create yet another Arab country that lives in the 8th century in eternal hatred of Jews (and rest assured that Christians will be next on the list).

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:34 PM