Iraqi vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi Baghdad – Jaafar Nassrawi Iraqi vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi spoke to ‘Arabstoday’ in an exclusive interview from his residence in Kurdistan, Monday, saying that he paid a high cost for rejecting Iranian influence in Iraq . He responded to the accusation of him being “behind the terrorist attacks” calling it a “sad paradox” for he fought terrorism which “now fights back,” according to Hashimi.
“Iran does not hide its influence in Iraq. What I find surprising is that political leaders are silent toward the statements of the Iranian army Chief of Staff (General Hassan Fairouz Abadi), in which he confirmed that the Iranian influence would extend in Iraq as the US leaves it,” said the Hashimi
Hashimi added that he paid a “high cost” for denouncing such an abusive statement, and refusing that Iraq becomes a “follower” to any state, whether it be Arab, Islamic, near, or far. He said he also paid a high cost for his “tendency toward peace which bothered the people at the time,” as he put it.
He further elaborated “the Sunni community in 2003 was revolting, while I turned the uprising riots into peace and participation in the peaceful political process, this paying the price from my own people.” He noted “some parties rejected my words and went to resistance and violence, but Tariq al-Hashimi chose the road to peace from the beginning, and paid the price for it.”