Iraq is on the brink of collapse, according to the country's former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, no thanks to bold political maneuvring being implemented by present Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

In an editorial piece published Wednesday by the New York Times, Allawi urged the United States to reconsider its support on Maliki's government, who he accused of plotting to establish a 'sectarian autocracy'.

Allawi, leader of the Sunni Iraqiya Party, argued that allowing Maliki, a Shiite, to get his ways will lead to a "devastating civil in Iraq that already stands on the brink of disaster."

Sunni political leaders, according to Allawi, were being "hounded and threatened by Mr. Maliki, who is attempting to drive us out of Iraqi political life and create an authoritarian one-party state."

Shortly after the last U.S soldiers motored out of Iraq, the coalition government ordered the arrest President Tareq al-Hashemi, who Maliki said acted as the leader of death squads that assassinated scores of government and security officials.

Prior to that, Maliki urged the Iraqi Parliament to sack Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq on allegations that he contradicts the country's current political set-up.

Both government officials are Sunnis and leading figures of Iraqiya, which Allawi said bolstered their belief that Maliki and his cohorts are devising ways to marginalise the Sunni bloc of the Parliament.

Allawi complained too on his article that Maliki allows the continued persecution of Iraqis with known or suspected ties with former leader Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, raising earlier fears that sectarian strife could heighten once U.S. forces withdraw totally.

Save for military forces stationed on the sprawling U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and security contractors, U.S. troops left Iraq early this December following the breakdown of talks that would allow limited number of deployments around the country.

Observers fear that posturing among the country's sectarian leaders could fuel conflicts that could re-ignite the violence seen at the height of the Iraq War, which saw thousands summarily executed as Sunnis and Shiites waged campaigns of killings and reprisals.

Now that America is officially out of the picture, that likelihood has become a greater possibility, with Allawi and his party claiming that Maliki has ordered measures that practically restricted movements of Sunni politicians.

Allawi appealed for the U.S. government to review its policy towards the Maliki government.

"We respectfully ask America's leaders to understand that unconditional support for Mr. Maliki is pushing Iraq down the path to civil war," the Sunni leader was quoted by Reuters as saying in his NY Times article.

"Unless America acts rapidly to help create a successful unity government, Iraq is doomed," Allawi stressed.