Sayyed Ayad Raouf Jamal al-Din was elected, on December 15, 2005, a member of Iraqi Parliament on the Iraqiyah list headed by former prime minister Dr. Ayad Alawi. He is a distinguished religious scholar persistently calling for the separation of religion and state. During the first meeting organized by the Iraqi opposition to Saddam, held in Nasiriyah in April 15, 2003, Sayyed Ayad declared: "In defense of religion, I call for secularism… The Holy Koran has been hijacked by the state for a long time, and it is incumbent upon us to save religion from the grip of the state." [1]

The following are the main points of an interview given by Iraqi MP Sayyed Ayad Jamal al-Din to ASWAT (the Independent Iraqi New Agency): [2]

Al-Ja'fari's Nomination to Form the New Government

The formation of a new Iraqi government following the mid-December general elections has been delayed largely because of disagreement among the various potential coalition partners on the candidacy of Dr. Ibrahim al-Ja'fari as prime minister.

Sayyed Jamal al-Din believes that it is premature to discuss the status of the designated prime minister, Dr. al-Ja'fari. While his party, al-Iraqiyah, has no qualms about al-Ja'fari personally - it is far more important at this time to agree on the policies and the principles upon which the new government will be established than to dwell upon personalities.

Maintaining the Authority of the Prime Minister

Sayyed Jamal al-Din rejects the attempts by the Sunni Accord Party, headed by Saleh al-Mutlak,

to restrict the authority of the Prime Minister by creating a national security agency that would subject him to non-parliamentary jurisdiction. Given the difficult conditions under which Iraq is going through, Jamal al-Din believes that the prime minister should be given broad and extraordinary powers to fight terrorism and restore services.

On the Dangers of Civil War

No matter how one may characterize the current events in Iraq, the fact remains that there is a widespread on-going and unabated expulsion of Shi'ite families from (Sunni) areas such as abu Ghraib, al-Tarmiya, and al-Taji. So far, 3,700 Shi'ite families were expelled, in addition to car bombs that target the working people because they are Shi'ite. These events will generate reactions because it cannot be expected that these people will indefinitely remain patient and quiet about what is

done to them. For this reason, Sayyed Jamal al-Din

called on the politicians to acknowledge these risks

and expedite the formation of the new government to save this country "from the bloodshed which is flowing incessantly."

Politics and Terrorism

Sayyed Jamal al-Din underscored the distinction between the security portfolio and the political portfolio. Terrorism exists "before the government [and will continue] after the formation of government." Terrorism has its own agenda which has recently changed from fighting Americans to fighting Iraqi civilians. He draws particular attention to "the Wahhabi and takfiri terrorism" [3] which seeks to instigate a sectarian war in Iraq - "terrorism cannot remain in a stable and peaceful country." The terrorist agenda would not have changed if the government were established a month earlier. The terrorism portfolio cannot be closed easily or by one stroke, because the training of the army and police will take time, and so will the control over the borders and the draining of the sources of terrorism. He assessed that that terrorism would last for another two years.

U.S. Support of Political Parties

Sayyed Ayad refused to entertain the notion that the U.S. stands in the way of religious parties in Iraq in support of secular parties. He emphasized that all political parties in Iraq support the democratic process and participate actively in it.

American-Iranian Dialogue

Jamal al-Din thinks that the idea of an American-Iranian dialogue was a trap for Iran because the inevitable results are known in advance. He added: "If I were in a leadership role in Iran I would have advised them against taking part in a bilateral dialogue with America." Rather, there should be a conference that would include all the neighboring countries of Iraq, including the Iraqi government. The Americans will say Iran is not cooperating, and this will give them additional ammunition to add to the nuclear issue.

To View Clips on Sayyed Ayad Raouf Jamal al-Din on Arab TV:

*Iraqi Politician Iyad Jamal Al-Din: The Arabs Want Tyrannical Regimes, in Line with Their Backward Culture, LBC (Lebanon), July 31, 2005, http://memritv.org/clip/en/793.htm.

*Arabs Don't Really Want Democracy, Al-Arabiya TV (Dubai), Al-Fayhaa TV (Iraq/UAE), November 30, 2005, http://memritv.org/clip/en/979.htm.

*Iraqi Shi'ite Leader 'Ayad Jamal Al-Din: Iran Pursues Own Interests, Not Shi'ite Interests, Al-Arabiya TV (Dubai), January 3, 2005, http://memritv.org/clip/en/473.htm.