Envoy's case may build wedge: Abduction, killing of al-Sherif could strain Egypt-Iraq relations

miami.com - AP ^ | Jul. 09, 2005 | HAMZA HENDAWI

[jmc1969]

CAIRO, Egypt - Iraq's top terrorist may have achieved something more significant than scaring away Arab diplomats when he ordered the abduction of Egypt's top envoy to Baghdad -- and then claimed to have killed him.

The crisis may have sown the seeds of distrust between Iraq's Shiite-led government and Egypt -- an Arab powerhouse whose goodwill Iraq needs.

It also underlined the unease with which the Arab world has watched political developments in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein, who like most Arabs is Sunni.

Before al-Sherif was apparently slain, Iraq's government had suggested the diplomat was partly to blame for his abduction. It also indirectly accused him of secret contacts with groups in the Sunni-dominated insurgency.

Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said some Arab diplomats in Iraq were in contact with insurgents. He did not identify those diplomats, saying only that al-Sherif went out the night of his abduction to an insecure area without bodyguards.

"So, he takes responsibility for what happened," said the minister, a hard-line Shiite Muslim from the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's largest Shiite party and the senior partner in al-Jaafari's ruling coalition.

For its part, Egypt placed some of the blame on Baghdad, with Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit saying Thursday that "some responsibility rests with the host state." He and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, appealed Thursday for al-Sherif's release.

[jmc1969]

The next election in Iraq can't come soon enough. An Iraqi government with a much greater Sunni presence will help (more then anything I can think of) calm tentions (prevent civil war) in Iraq and repair relations with Iraq and the rest of the Arab world

[popdonnelly]

The AP is such a prophet of doom. If we had bin Laden's and Zawahiri's head on poles tomorrow, the AP would find the downside.

[McGavin999]

Oh please, if that's true then all those tourists who were blown up in Egypt were killed because of the Egyptian government.

[GSlob]

One could not prevent a conflict, one could only postpone it. And the sooner the Iraqis have their civil war and fight it out to a decisive conclusion, the better.

[jmc1969]

The problem is that the Sunnis areas of Iraq will bring in more and more al-Qaeda for help fighting the Shia and thus give al-Qaeda a base to work in. And, the Shia would ask the Iranians to bring in their army into southern Iraq to help them

[GSlob]

Existing Iraqi Shias + Kurds are strong enough to wipe out Iraqi Sunnis. And IMHO one should not discourage such a development.

[Bratch]

It's Bush's fault.

[Americanexpat]

I don't see why Egypt is so surprised their diplomat was taken hostage and killed by Al Z. He has already told the world he and his gang of thugs were going to start taking diplomats hostage and attacking targets outside Iraq. Instead of getting the ass at the Iraqis they should be trying to find away to fight this scourge of terrorism together.