Posted on 02/12/2006 3:55:06 AM PST by RWR8189
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiite lawmakers Sunday chose Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to head Iraq's new government, Shiite officials said.
Al-Jaafari won 64 votes, one more than Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, officials said. There were two abstentions.
More than 100 lawmakers from the Shiite coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, gathered to vote.
The choice of the umbrella Shiite alliance is assured of becoming prime minister because Shiites won the most parliament seats in the Dec. 15 national elections.
Shiite lawyers cast their votes at the heavily guarded home of Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of Abdul-Mahdi's party. Al-Jaafari's supporters gathered in the compound cheered when word of the outcome emerged from the closed door meeting room.
Al-Jaafari, a physician, is a member of the Dawa Party and spent years in exile in Iran and Britain before returning to his homeland after the U.S.-led coalition ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003.
His government, which took office in April 2005, had been widely criticized for failing to improve the country's crumbling infrastructure or deal effectively with the Sunni-led insurgency.
pong
He says he's OK with it. That he feels that Jaafari will be moderate. "Not too much Islam in the government. Not like Iran. That is good."
I'm going to poll a few more of them - their opinions are of interest to me.
Darnit. I hate that.
Al runs everything. Gets all the jobs. Gets his name in the paper.
Anybody but Al, please.
As always, you are our beacon of light and truth on Iraq! Thank you again.
LLS
Thanks for posting the article, and my comment in no way is a remark directed at any other poster.
No offense, Al(.......)
Now, if they had a guy named Al Be Good, I would vote for him myself.
Jaafari.
Something about the name ,.... Jaafar.
Stargate. I think.
Jaafari. May God give him strength.
I don't like the fact that he's spent so much time in Iran.
Let us know the results of that informal poll, please, Allegra.
Thank you for keeping us informed from your position on the ground in Iraq. Every domestic source of information seems dedicated to keeping us fearful and anxious.
He's better than the alternative. Mahdi is in the pocket of Iran. He would have been a disaster.
Actually, this is going to be quite interesting. I just read over on Iraq the Model that the other alliances were hoping for Mahdi because it would mean that Hakim would have to resign as the head of the block. Some real interesting manuvering going on over there.
Profile: Ibrahim Jaafari
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4268143.stm
IRAQ: Ibrahim Jaafari
April 7, 2005
http://www.cfr.org/publication/8035/
Al-Jaafari
http://www.al-jaafari.com/
But he may owe his caucus victory on Sunday to a radical Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, who went into politics after leading two uprisings against U.S. and Iraqi troops after the invasion, Reuters reported.
Sadr apparently swung crucial votes toward Jaafrari, emerging as a kingmaker in the process, the news agency said.
Why shouldn't he spend time in Iran? Birds of feather.
I'm going with the Iraqis.
Just a hunch.
Okay.....are you denying that he was supported by Sadr?
I've been here a while.
I've seen how the MSM operates here and I can see straight through their B.S.
And by the way, I detest Mookie Sadr.
Mahdi was the candidate supported by the Kurds and the Sunni and also an opponent of Moqtada al-Sadr.
Well, since Jafari won by 1 vote and since Sadr's 30-vote bloc all voted for him it seems that the Reuters "may" can be replaced with a "does"..
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