Posted on 04/21/2006 10:50:40 AM PDT by stop_fascism
Pretty decent progress in the middle of a civil war.
"The decisive intervention may have been the reported signal from, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq's leading Shi'ite spiritual authority. Sistani had refrained from intervening on the question of the nominee, although he had insisted that the Shi'ite bloc remain united at all costs. But a meeting Wednesday by UN representative Ashraf Qazi with the cleric, who refuses to talk to U.S. officials, may have prompted him to act out of concern over growing sectarian violence" Time Magazine
Sistani is calling all the shots in Iraq. Yet he is too important and proud to even MEET with any Americans.
We are being played for fools in Iraq, no question. No wonder President Bush is at 30 percent approval rating!
The "high-pressure" was from the Sunnis and the Kurds, who didn't want the man, and had the votes to keep him from becoming Prime Minister.
The Shiites thought they were still in a tribal system, where the strongest tribe gets to put their man in. Under Iraq's new democratic system, as the leading party they got to try to put their man in. However, that system also gives Parliament the final say. And since the Shiites have a plurality but not a majority, they needed Sunni and Kurd votes to get their man in. When they couldn't, they had to make a change. The U.S. pressure was to get the Shiites to recognize how the system worked and that lacking an absolute majority they couldn't govern in defiance of the other parties. But the real issue was the votes, and the Shiites didn't have enough.
Sistani has no trouble meeting with Iranian officials, that is for sure.
former adviser to the American-led Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, Michael Rubin, said yesterday that he did not expect the new government that would likely form to last long.
"This is going to be a race between Iraq and Italy for which government will fall sooner," Mr. Rubin said. "It does not take much to vote no confidence in the government. At best the new candidate is the caretaker candidate."
As for the likelihood of Mr. al-Adeeb to emerge as prime minister, Mr. Rubin said that any candidate who replaced Mr. Jaafari would have likely ended up on good terms with the mullahs who run Iran. "Anyone from Jaafari's Dawa Party is going to be to some extent pro-Iranian," Mr. Rubin said.
Let's break that down into good old English:
Al-Mal-Icki
Al as in Al Capone
Mal as in Latin for bad
Icki as in yucky and a reminder of Harold Ickes
This guy has not been blessed with a name like Tom Cruise or Robert Redford. But I wish him luck. He has a tough and dangerous job and we need him to succeed.
Al-Maliki was a top official in the commission in charge of purging members of Saddam's ousted Baath Party from the military and government. Sunnis, who made up the backbone of the Baath Party,
Interesting.
Al-Maliki was a top official in the commission in charge of purging members of Saddam's ousted Baath Party from the military and government. Sunnis, who made up the backbone of the Baath Party,
Interesting.
As I understand it, we applied virtually no pressure until progress forming the unity government stopped for more than a month and sectarian attacks grew. There were reports that Sistani was surprised by our lack of interference, but very upset last month that we began to pressure for other candidates (refusing to open a personal letter from Bush).
It’s democracy in action, but we pressured it to stay in action rather than fall behind the curve of violence.
Yea, sounds like the kind of job one can use for personal advancement.
Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker, said the Kurdish parties had no opposition to al-Maliki. "
FYI. It appears we're getting a better Prime Minister. With the insurgency virtually defeated, civil war avoided, we’re well on the way to winning the political struggle. However, some critics consider him too sectarian...
JAWAD AL-MALIKI: A prominent Shiite lawmaker and a leading member of al-Jaafari's Dawa party. He left Iraq in the 1980s and settled in Syria. His real name is Nouri Kamel, according to Dawa members, but he goes by the name Jawad al-Maliki. He is seen as Dawa's favored choice for the position if al-Jaafari steps down. However, some critics consider him too sectarian, according to alliance members.It must suck to be a Democrat activist on days like today.
One possibility is that Sistani really did open the letter and really did listen to Bush.
The story that said Sistani didn't open the letter could have been a mutually agreed to carefully choreographed statement to make it look to the Iraqi people and the Shiites in particular that Sistani's position of compromise is independent of the United States.
Something like that sounds reasonable. As I recall, the story was that the hand written letter had been sitting unopened on a desk for days. Just that alone was likely motivated by an attempt to portray his independence.
Unless people sitting on the world's sidelines (including on this thread) have more insight on this guy than the Sunnis and Kurds in Parliament who seem to support him, I agree with your assessment. The pace of nation building in Iraq is making our Continental Congress look about as effective as our current Congress. Amazing transformations are happening in a country with more divisions than unifying ties. These people really seem to want Iraq to succeed as a nation. That is good news for all of us, whether we are prepared to believe it or not.
As i recall the purpose of the DAWA party was to get rid of the secular Govt. of Saadam Hussein and make Iraq an Islamic state.
They tried to assassinate Saddam,but failed, and Saddam went afer them and started killing them . Ibrahim al-Jaafari fled to Iran and Jawad al-Maliki fled to Syria.
Now Saddam and his sons are neutralized, and the DAWAs are back at the top of the new Govt in Iraq in the form of Jaafari and Maliki.
Iraq could end up like Iran did after the fall of the Shah. A year or so down the line in Iraq, a one question democratic referendum, "Islamic state"? yes or no. The Iranians voted yes, and got Ayotollah Khomeni as the spiritual leader.
I don't know how the same question put to the Iraqis would end up. But if the DAWAs could get a majority for Islamic state they might try it. - tom
Sistani is a tired old man. Iraq needs a younger spiritual adviser who can knuckle under the so called democrats and get back to basic Islam and Sharia law. There is a candidate who has been waiting in the shadow of Sistani and is ready to take over.
This could be the face of Iraq. - Tom
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