Posted on 02/20/2005 6:45:19 PM PST by Lessismore
Controversial Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi says he believes he has the votes to become the war-torn country's new prime minister.
Mr Chalabi, once supported by the United States only to fall from favour, is part of the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) list that won 140 seats of the 275-member national assembly in the January 30 elections.
"I believe I have a majority of the [UIA] votes on my side right now" to become the new government's prime minister, Mr Chalabi told United States ABC television.
However, the former exile remained cautious, saying the choice of premier "will be decided by the parliamentary bloc", which he did not want to "second guess".
On Tuesday, sources in the Shiite coalition said it had chosen interim vice president and Dawa party leader Ibrahim Jaafari as its candidate for prime minister.
Mr Chalabi said he was ready to cooperate if he were not picked to lead the government.
"We want to change the way Iraq is governed," he said.
"It will no longer be the government of a leader with everybody else not counting very much.
"We want to have a cabinet form of executive authority in Iraq and I am perfectly willing to cooperate, as indeed are my other friends and colleagues who are competing for the job of prime minister, with any prime minister that will come out for the service of ... the country."
If Chalabi wins it will be good that he isn't viewed as a mere accomplice of the US.
Is this not the fellow we accused of being an Iranian Spy? They found secret U.S. documents in his house in Baghdad. This doesn't sound good at all!
Chalabi is snake that doesn't care about anyone or anything but himself. In a way it would be good if gets picked, because the Iraqi people hate him and come December when they vote again, they will vote the UIA out of power and Allawi's list will benifit big time.
But I thought that he was currently viewed as an accomplice of Iran? That's good?
Ideally suited for the job. OTOH, he may just be full of it.
They need stability in government, not more Machiavellian politics.
We'll see. Chalabi essentially got railroaded by some disaffected State Dept folks. I'm not sure who's right, but we could do worse.
Exactly. You gotta wonder if the entire "prosecution of Chalabi" angle by the US et.al. has been just a head fake to help him look like he is not a puppet of the U.S.
Not true - Chalabi was flown to Iraq early during the invasion - Some of our Special Forces A-teams had to work with him (and the people he brought) - They say he was a complete snake - he is not to be trusted in the least.
I don't think so - Some of our SOF A-team's that worked with Chalabi early on during the invasion say he is a complete snake (his actions since have only furthered this view).
I'm not sure about Chalabi. I wouldn't write him off without more evidence. He was badmouthed and possibly framed by rogue clintonoids in the CIA and the State Department. It is said that they were angry because he was the candidate of the U.S. military governor and his advisors, and State and CIA wanted to run the show.
The CIA has a dreadful record in Iraq. We would never have caught Saddam or his top advisers if military intelligence hadn't taken over and pushed the CIA to one side--which of course they resented.
Plus much of what we know has been filtered through the liberal press, always delighted to publish leaks from clintonoids in the CIA. So why not give Chalabi a chance to prove himself, if indeed he is chosen to lead?
I don't think he's got the votes to be PM. I'm really confused about this guy, but I know that the Iraqi people don't know him enough to trust him. We'll just have to wait and see.
wow.....this plot had so many twists and turns and so many negative results at time I would really think this would be next to impossible to pull off......no one really knew how the outcomes of the last year would play out.....I don't think even Karl Rove could pull that off
Cicero -- But DOD soured on him too. He definitely carries a lof of baggage. Maybe it will turn out okay, but there are a lot of people in the govt. who are not at all liberal who don't trust Chalabi at all. At the very least, he is a slippery character. Maybe that's what's needed at this time.
At this point, I don't think anybody is giving anybody a chance- he is either their choice or not, the ball is rolling down the hill. Usually, conspiracy theories are fun but futile, unless you make them up yourself. This fellow is not good for us but that may be their choice.
Nah, its ALL part of the plan
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.