Ousted Baghdad mayor says gun, not vote, rules Iraq

"BAGHDAD, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Baghdad's former mayor, ousted by force this week, said on Friday the new Iraq had degenerated into a militia state ruled by the gun and not the ballot box.

"I was elected. I had dreams. Then I was removed in a coup by gunmen. This is very bad. Acts like these set a dangerous precedent for a country that wants to be democratic," Alaa al-Tamimi told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"Elected officials are just removed by force. We live in a militia state even with American troops here. Imagine when they leave. It will be worse than Saddam Hussein's time."

Tamimi, chosen from a shortlist by city notables under the supervision of the U.S. military occupiers in 2003, said 120 gunmen took over his office on Monday. They installed Hussein al-Tahhan, a rival local official and a member of one of the main Islamist Shi'ite parties leading the government, as mayor.

Tamimi said he was not present when the gunmen occupied his office. Fearful for his life, he said he was living under U.S. protection and declined to say where he was speaking from.

His account of events was challenged by Tahhan, who is also governor of the province of Baghdad. Tahhan has said Tamimi himself was under investigation for corruption.

The crisis at city hall erupted as Iraqi leaders scramble to finish a draft of the constitution they say will advance democracy and stabilise a country gripped by violence.

Tamimi, who has watched suicide bombs, shootings and rampant crime ravage Baghdad since he took office, said Saddam Hussein's iron fist had been replaced by a few militia-backed political parties trying to dominate the country.

Tahhan is a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

VOWED TO CLEAN UP BAGHDAD

Tamimi, a French-trained civil engineer who once worked on Saddam's nuclear programme, fled the country in the 1990s and worked in the oil-rich Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi until the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Armed with a $75 million annual budget and 9,000 employees left over from Saddam's days, he vowed to clean up city hall.

"We hope Baghdad will return to be the mother of the world," he once said, describing his mission.

Two years later, power struggles dominate a local administration that still has not delivered on promises of improved electricity, water and sewage services.

The secular-minded Tamimi said the SCIRI-dominated Baghdad provincial council had been keen to replace him ever since it was elected in January, mirroring power struggles elsewhere.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, also a religious Shi'ite, was quoted this week as saying he had responded to a request from the city council to remove Tamimi.

Tamimi said Jaafari had rejected his previous offers to quit under pressure from Tahhan supporters: "What Jaafari said is very bad. Why now? This means he supports a state where armed men can just remove elected officials from office," said Tamimi.

"When Saddam was here we had one bad person. Now we have thousands running around with militias."

Also this week Jaafari sent officials to the southern city of Samawa after police fired on protesters and killed one during demonstrations to demand better public services and the resignation of the governor, a SCIRI member. The provincial council voted the governor out but he refuses to step down.

"When they removed the governor of Samawa, Jaafari sent a delegation to rescue him. I was removed by gunmen because I am a secular technocrat with no ties to SCIRI and not backed by a militia," said Tamimi.

"This is terrible for Iraq. It means any future elections will mean nothing because gunmen can just walk into any office and remove and install whoever they want.""
Reuters