Aides to Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmad Chalabi, have said that they will demand the dismissal of Raid Juhi the judge who has led the investigations of the mass killings committed under Saddam Hussein.
This demand will go in the face of US calls for restraint.
Raid Juhi is the most prominent of 19 judges, prosecutors and officials on the list of those to be purged from the Iraqi tribunal set up to try Saddam.
All of the 19 are former members of Saddam's Baath Party, and therefore legally ineligible to work for the tribunal.
However, Juhi as the tribunal's chief investigative judge is considered by the Americans to be central to the work of the tribunal.
Juhi has not commented publicly on the controversy. However, it is believed by some that Chalabi, who was once a favourite of the Pentagon, was using the issue as cover for a political manoeuvre to protect Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric who is Chalabi's new political partner.
Juhi, in 2003 issued a warrant for the arrest of al-Sadr, who led two uprisings against U.S. troops last year, on murder charges. It is possible that Chalabi is trying to punish Juhi for this.
The warrant, held in abeyance by Iraqi officials as part of the deal that ended al-Sadr's rebellion, charged him with ordering the killing of Ayatollah Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a prominent Shiite cleric.
Chalabi formed a partnership with al-Sadr, for the elections held in January, and it is believed that he hopes to become prime minister after the next round of elections in December.
He would need the help of al-Sadr for these hopes to come to fruition.
Politics is very dirty business, and politicians' motives and actions should always be taken with a pinch of salt.
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