Tariq al-Hashimi (; born 1942) is an Iraqi politician who served as the general secretary of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) until May 2009. He served as the Vice President of Iraq from 2006 to 2012. As a Sunni, he took the place of fellow Sunni politician Ghazi al-Yawar.
Early life
Tariq al-Hashimi was born in 1942 in Baghdad, Iraq, in the Mashhadan tribe. From 1959 to 1962, he studied at the Baghdad Military Academy. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in an artillery battalion of an armoured brigade in 1962. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Al-Mustansiriya University in 1969, and a master's degree in 1978. At the age of 33, he left the Iraqi Army, and became active in the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), serving on its planning committee. He is the brother of Maysoon al-Hashemi, who was killed on 27 April 2006 and Amir al-Hashimi, who was killed on 9 October 2006.
Political career and views
Hashimi was the leader of the largest Sunni block, Iraqi Accord Front led by the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP). The block entered the 2005 elections, but withdrew later. Hashimi opposes federalism, wants oil revenues distributed based on population, de-Baathification reversed, and more Sunnis in the new military and police. In fact, Hashimi argued that the inhabitants of the provinces could take the decision whether or not to form federal regions.
USA Today reported in December 2006 that Hashimi was involved in forming a multi-sectarian alliance to replace the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, with the encouragement of U.S. President George W. Bush, to counter the political influence of Muqtada al-Sadr. At a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2007, Hashimi said that the Iraqi government was prepared to cooperate with Turkey in the Turkish fight against Kurdish Workers Party.
In December 2006, Hashimi differentiated between Al-Qaeda and the other fighters that America calls "insurgents", and that Iraqis call the "resistance", noting that the latter "are very much prepared to contribute to and participate in the political process, as long as we offer them a doable, workable, significant project to accommodate them". In the same discussion, he said violence in Iraq was a result of the American military presence there and that calm would follow if America set a timetable for withdrawal.
In 2007, Hashimi drafted the "Iraqi National Compact", a 25‑point statement of principles that condemn all forms of extremism and sectarian discrimination. The compact calls for serious dialogue between the factions in Iraq. Hashimi announced plans to pull his political bloc out of the government and resign as vice-president on 15 May if promised constitutional changes were not made. The other reason for his intention to resign was that according to Hashimi, Maliki had been excluding Sunnis from decision-making.
During his tenure as vice-president, Hashimi maintained an office located in the Yarmouk neighborhood of Baghdad.
Hashimi stepped down as secretary general of the IIP in May 2009, and Osama al Tikriti was elected to fill the position. Then Hashimi established the non-sectarian Tajdeed (Renewal) List.
False accusations and arrest warrant
On 15 December 2011, government forces surrounded Tariq al-Hashimi's residence in the Green Zone and two of his bodyguards were detained and beaten. On 18 December, five more of his bodyguards were arrested. The Iraqi government banned him from travelling abroad. In addition, on 19 December 2011, Iraq's Judicial Council issued an arrest warrant for Hashimi, falsely accusing him of orchestrating attacks. The arrest warrant was based on the testimony of his bodyguards, who were badly beaten and forced to make these accusations against him, and came just one day after the final U.S. troop withdrawal of remaining forces from Iraq. More specifically, Hashimi was wrongly accused of running a hit squad and killing Shiite government officials. One day later, Hashimi denied all charges against him in a press conference in the Kurdish regional capital Erbil, to which he had fled on 18 December 2011 after being informed about the arrest warrant against him. The dispute between the Sunni Muslim Hashimi and the primarily Shia administration of Prime Minister Maliki generated concern over the stability of the young Iraqi government amid the ongoing sectarian conflict. After the arrest warrant, the Sunni/Shia Iraqiyya party with 91 seats in parliament began a boycott that led to a standstill in the government. This boycott was only over in late January 2012 as a result of the United States' intense diplomatic pressure and efforts.