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Dubai: Iraqi authorities are investigating suspected links between the the shoe-hurling incident and a coup attempt against the government of Prime Minister, Nouri Al Maliki.
Political and diplomatic circles are talking about a conspiracy linking the masterminds of the two incidents, some even accusing the governing alliance of Al Maliki of exploiting the shoe incident to secure gains in the provincial elections scheduled for January 3.
They said the government is paranoid from its opponents in the provincial election which will witness tough competition among main political forces in Iraq.
More than 14,000 candidates will compete for 440 seats in 14 provinces in Iraq. The provincial councils will play a decisive role in Iraq's political life.
Sources close to Al Dawa'a party of Al Maliki said that investigating links between Muntazar Al Zaidi, the Iraqi TV reporter who flung a pair of shoes at US President George W. Bush last week and the leaders of the coup attempt in Iraq.
Eyebrows raised
The fact that the arrest of the suspected coup leaders started just two days after the shoe incident has raised eyebrows.
A source from the Al Dawa'a party told Gulf News that there is good reasons to think that the two incidents are interlinked. "The shoe tossing incident was premeditated carefully to create chaos that will lead to a coup against the current government. The investigations revealed strong links between the Al Awda movement planning to restore its power in Iraq and Al Zaidi, who threw his shoes at President Bush," he said.
"Al Zaidi, of Al Baghdadiya television is known for his Marxist views. He seemed to have been used by the Baathist owners of the TV station in which he was working to cover up a coup attempt in Baghdad that was planned to take off days before the provisional election," he said.
"Al Zaidi himself gave an interview when he was attending a journalist and human rights conference in Beirut last week. He told his Lebanese host that he always dreamt of becoming the Iraq prime minister in future. The interview, which will be aired by Beirut-based TV station LBC on December 22 left no doubt about the political motivation of Al Zaidi," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Gulf News.
Both analysts and politicians cast doubt on accusations that 35 high ranking officials in the interior ministry plotted a coup against the government of Al Maliki in an attempt to restore Baathist dominance.
"A coup at this time would need to be done in full view of the Americans," Wafeeq Al Samarraie, former security adviser to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, told Al Jazeera television.
"There are obviously still people who are very disaffected by the current situation and the current regime, [but] I think it is very unlikely they would have any short-term plans to carry out a coup. There is no way they could succeed," said Joost Hiltermann, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.
A The New York Times report cited a high-ranking Interior Ministry official as saying those affiliated with Al Awda ("The return" in Arabic) had paid bribes to other officers to recruit them and that huge amounts of money had been found in the raids.
With inputs from agencies.
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