In mid-December 2014, after nearly four months of his tenure as Prime Minister in Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, Prime Minister of Iraq, chose the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, to be a Gulf station for him to cross the political gateway to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and it was said at the time that al-Abadi sought an Emirati role to soothe some of the tensions with the GCC countries, first and foremost, of course, Saudi Arabia, and he also sought to contain the anger of the Kingdom of Bahrain from the lining of the Iraqi Dawa Party, which belongs to al-Abadi, with the Shiite opposition in Bahrain, and as he wished to postpone the State of Kuwait’s claim for war reparations.
Abadi sought the Emirates first, eying to win Saudi acceptance from an Emirati gate. At the time, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces expressed his hope that the new Iraqi politics draw, “a new hope and a strong platform for change”, and His Highness intended by change, most likely, to involve all the Iraqi spectrum components in building Iraq’s future as a basic and real guarantee to achieve security and stability in this brotherly country, HRH said to the letter, “We wish all the best for Iraq and all Iraqis, and that God Almighty preserves their security and stability, and that harmony, solidarity and understanding prevail across Iraq for a prosperous future for its citizens,” while Abadi, according to what his press office announced at the time, focused on the openness that he seeks to achieve at the level of the Arab and the Gulf countries.
The Emirates, then, wishes only the best for Iraq, and wishes it nothing but security and stability, and al-Abadi himself knows exactly the role of the UAE in Iraq, but he ignored the facts deliberately. After this visit about a year and three months ago, al-Abadi suddenly came out to accuse the United Arab Emirates, in a crude and shameless way, of exporting terrorists to Iraq, claiming that about a hundred UAE nationals participate within the ranks of the terrorist organization, “Daash”, using his study of mathematics, and speaking of the big differences between the engagement rates of Emiratis in terrorist organizations and their Iraqi counterparts!
Outright lying was Haider al-Abadi’s motto in his speech, which was filled with fear and panic of the leaders of the popular mobilization forces, who were sitting with him, and the man found refuge in attacking the United Arab Emirates and in trying to stick ridiculous accusations on it, and the product of that was that al-Abadi became himself a leader of black comedy in our Arab world!! I wish you said something else so that your audience could believe you. Do you want us to believe that there are one hundred UAE nationals fighting in the ranks of the “Daash” organization? How can this be true while you recognized with your lying tongue that you are not familiar with the latest statistics on the nationalities of the foreign fighters in the ranks of the organization? Well, I will tell you facts from reliable sources so that you might benefit from them. The latest statistics from the US “Soufan Group” Center, which specializes in strategic security, issued at the beginning of February, talk about the presence of between 1 to 15 fighters that hold the nationality of the United Arab Emirates in the ranks of the organization, which indicates that the Emirates came at the bottom of a long list of about 13 Arab countries whose citizens are involved, in different numbers, in the activities of this evil organization.
The number of Emiratis in the ranks of “Daash” is, in the worst estimates, not more than 15 people, and it is possible, according to the content of the list of the Soufan Center analysis that they would not exceed one or two, especially since the report itself has been careful to literally say at the end, “Some of these numbers are estimates of the numbers of fighters, and are not definitively confirmed figures “, which underlines the irrationality of the absurd lie that Abadi said before officials to whom he is supposed to tell the truth, rather than repeat lies.
Abadi talks about the alleged spread of terrorist ideology, and hurls the United Arab Emirates in the context of a speech full of allegations, conjectures and hatred, allegations that do not deserve negating or reply. The moderation of the Emirates is known to all, and we wish for others Arab countries the same atmosphere of tolerance and coexistence we enjoy, and Abadi himself is the first to know about that, but it seems that he took advantage of these features in order to jump on the facts and escape from what he wants to say for fear of exposing the reality of his relations with other regional parties, especially since he was sitting in a crowd he knows well their intentions towards him, and fears that they would turn against him, especially because they have already expressed their disobedience once, so he could only cower disappointed and rejected.
Abadi boasts about the margin of freedom in Iraq, and I will not contradict it, but as Emiratis and Arabs, we wish for this brotherly country to enjoy all the best, and to enjoy security and stability. But what we do not tolerate is that the man speaks badly of the United Arab Emirates, and of human rights and freedoms in this country, while he is the first to know the invalidity of what he says, for the simple reason that he started from a first lie and then moved to a second one, wondering with an absurd fake claim for puzzlement and surprise, about the significance of Emirati citizens’ fighting in the ranks of “Daash”!! Well … Let me remind you, Abadi, as you have lost memory, that your stupidity does not allow you to remember that there are about 1,600 French citizens who are fighting in the ranks of “Daash,” according to “Soufan Center”, as well as about 2,400 people who hold the Russian nationality, and between 180 to 250 of US citizens, and about 5,000 fighters from the European Union countries, and I will not mention other Arab and Gulf countries. Do all these European countries and nationals of Russia and the United States lack the fundamental elements of human rights and freedoms, which Abadi alleged, that it is the reason why some GCC nationals join the ranks of “Daash”!!
Your calculations are completely wrong Mister Abadi, and your intelligence betrayed you when you tried to convey a particular message, which you and others are well aware of, to a particular regional part, by blaming the United Arab Emirates, believing that the atmosphere of tolerance rooted in our State will extend to you, and that we will forgive you for this big offense, but I tell you that your thinking is misplaced, tolerance is one of our features, but we display it only with those who deserve it, not with those who abuse the hand that was extended to them to help them build their State.
