By Ahmed Rasheed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Qais Al-Khazali, a militia leader who has been designated as a global terrorist by the United States and is an important ally of Iran, has sought to soften his image in a quest to become one of Iraq’s top politicians.
Success for his Iran-aligned Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq movement in a parliamentary election on Tuesday would be another step in his attempts to reinvent himself, giving him more influence in the Shi’ite leadership and leverage in the formation of a government.
It would also cement his group’s shift from armed militia to political force and help strengthen the sway of Iran-aligned factions on Iraq’s political landscape.
But a poor showing by Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, which has won seats in parliament in previous elections, would be a significant setback for Khazali’s efforts to rebrand himself and could weaken Iran’s broad strategy of maintaining influence over multiple allied factions in Iraq’s political system.
IRAQIS DISILLUSIONED WITH POLITICIANS AND MILITIAS
Many Iraqis are bracing for an election they fear will change little, with elites, including pro-Iranian militias, not delivering much since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Iranian-backed Shi’ite groups such as Khazali’s have acquired enormous power since Saddam Hussein and his Sunni-dominated government was toppled by the U.S.
After winning five parliamentary seats in the 2021 election as part of an alliance, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq is unlikely to make major gains on Tuesday, but hopes to retain a similar level of support or improve at least slightly on the last election.
Khazali rose to prominence in the chaotic aftermath of the U.S. invasion. In 2007, he was arrested by American forces for his alleged role in an attack on a government compound in Karbala in the Shi’ite heartland of southern Iraq in which five U.S. soldiers were killed.
He was freed after about three years at the American prison Camp Cropper in Iraq.
British officials have previously said they believed Asa’ib al-Haq may have been behind the kidnapping of British computer programmer Peter Moore, who was released in 2009.
Khazali fought with fiery cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army against U.S. troops but split in 2006 to form his own armed group, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (League of the Righteous).
The sectarian force launched numerous operations against U.S. and Iraqi forces. His group has also fought in battles against Islamic State when it conquered a third of the country, and in neighbouring Syria’s civil war.
Khazali was among the many militia fighters who, armed and wearing green camouflage fatigues, went to northern Iraq to battle Islamic State.
Other former militia figures who, like him, have sought to enter politics have courted controversy because they had many armed men under their control who acted with impunity. Some have established business empires.
VOWS TO LAY DOWN WEAPONS
Khazali, whose militia carried out attacks on foreigners during the Iraq war, said in 2012 the group would lay down its weapons and was prepared to join the political process.
“This stage of the military conflict between the Iraqi armed resistance and the occupation forces is over, with a distinct, historic Iraqi victory and a distinct, historic U.S. failure,” Khazali told Reuters in an interview.
Khazali also said the group was willing to hand over the remains of British bodyguard Alan McMenemy, kidnapped with four others in 2007, without conditions.
Critics say Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq remains violent despite announcing its readiness to lay down arms and join the political process.
In 2020, Khazali said there was no longer a justification for thousands of U.S. troops to remain in Iraq since Islamic State had been defeated and that they would be an occupying force if they did not leave.
Iraq’s parliament has earlier backed a recommendation by the prime minister to end the presence of foreign troops, a response to the U.S. killing of an Iranian military commander and an Iraqi militia leader in Baghdad.
The same year, the U.S. Department of State designated Khazali as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Mike Pompeo, who was then U.S. Secretary of State, said Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq and its leaders were violent proxies of Iran and used violence to support Iranian efforts to “undermine Iraqi sovereignty”.
Though a militia commander, Khazali has sat out acts of anti-American violence staged in protest at Israel’s military campaign during the Gaza war and was involved with Iraq’s education ministry, which signed a big deal with the World Bank.
Born in 1974, in the impoverished Sadr City area of Baghdad, Khazali has long been touted as a potential political candidate.
He has denied his militia was involved in sectarian slaughter that killed thousands in 2006-07 and said he is not wanted by the Iraqi government for any crime.
In 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Khazali and two other militia leaders for their involvement in human rights abuses after the killing of civilians in demonstrations. Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq was accused of opening fire on, and killing, civilians.
(Writing by Michael Georgy, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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