Within days of the final U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, government authorities issue an arrest warrant for Sunni Muslim Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi.<br/> He is suspected of ties to assassinations and bombings, but defended himself at a news conference Tuesday.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) (ARABIC) TAREQ AL-HASHEMI, IRAQ'S VICE-PRESIDENT, SAYING:<br/> "I am ready to stand before a judge, me and my bodyguards, but on condition to provide minimum requirement of justice. Therefore, I have notes and objections against the preliminary investigation which was conducted by Baghdad brigade or by the federal police or by the military intelligence. I am worried about the confessions, so I call for investigation that should be conducted by judges in Kurdistan region, and there should be sides which monitor the process of probe - then I will be ready to stand before justice."<br/> The political struggle between Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his Sunni rivals in the country's delicate power-sharing deal has intensified during the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, nearly nine years after the U.S.-led invasion.<br/> Al-Hashemi expressed surprise over a speech made by U.S. President Barack Obama when he called Iraq a democratic country with an independent judiciary.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) (ARABIC) TAREQ AL-HASHEMI, IRAQ'S VICE PRESIDENT, SAYING:<br/> "I am surprised of the statement by U.S. President Obama when he said that we left a democratic Iraq where the judiciary is honest and transparent and there is no corruption. What did the U.S. President mean by his speech? Is it the real situation in Iraq? I am very sad, whether the U.S. President was misled by these reports, or he was jumped on facts."<br/> Earlier in Baghdad, the Interior Ministry showed footage aired on Iraqi state TV of three of Hashemi's former body guards who claimed they had been paid to carryout assassinations.<br/> In Jordan, former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said it is time for Maliki to step aside.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FORMER IRAQI PRIME MINISTER, IYAD ALLAWI, SAYING:<br/> "We fear return of dictatorship and authoritarianism. Therefore I called, and I call, on the brothers in the national alliance to replace Mr. Maliki with another candidate from the National Alliance, as he has no ability to run the country in a democratic, peaceful, and acceptable way."<br/> Analysts say the arrest warrant for al-Hashemi risks unraveling Iraq's fragile power-sharing deal among Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs who have struggled to overcome tensions just a few years after sectarian slaughter drove the country to the edge of a civil war.<br/> Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters
