Sectarian unity cracking in Iraq

BAGHDAD -- In the week since the last American troops left Iraq, Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered an arrest warrant for the country's highest-ranking Sunni official, threatened to exclude the rival sect's main political party from his government and warned that "rivers of blood" would flow if Sunnis seek an autonomous region.

The moves confirmed what many longtime observers of Iraqi politics have suspected since al-Maliki came to office more than five years ago -- that he has an authoritarian streak and beneath his tireless rhetoric about national unity is essentially a sectarian politician.

As a result, the veneer of sectarian unity that the United States tried to paint over Iraq's leadership throughout a nine-year presence is quickly being washed away after the departure of American forces.

The first casualty could be the unity government that al-Maliki heads, uneasily combining his powerful Shia alliance with a Sunni-backed bloc. It took nine months after Iraq's elections in March last year to put it together, under heavy American pressure to include the Sunnis, but al-Maliki never liked it and is increasingly saying he wants a government based on the majority in parliament, which would squeeze out Sunnis.

And al-Maliki has made clear he intends keep a strong grip heading that government.

"I have been working here for six years and I will be here for another six," al-Maliki told a news conference last week.

He has been accruing power since rising to his post in 2006 in a process that has accelerated since the new government was formed a year ago. He effectively runs the Defense and Interior Ministries and has created a separate security force that answers to him alone.

He has bypassed parliament to install Shia allies in key positions, and he has used his control over state funds and resources to gain leverage with the judiciary and oversight agencies like the anti-graft Integrity Commission.

The one risk al-Maliki runs is that he will disillusion Shia parties making up the bulk of his government, some of which are longtime political rivals.