Posted on 03/26/2010 4:32:36 PM PDT by jazusamo
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A jubilant Ayad Allawi claimed victory for his secular, anti-Iranian coalition as final parliamentary returns Friday showed him edging out the bloc of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who angrily vowed to fight the results.
The results, if they stand, will give Allawi the first opportunity to form a parliamentary majority and Iraq's next government. But they do not automatically mean that he will become prime minister, and the narrow margin sets the stage for months of political wrangling.
"On this occasion, I'd like to congratulate the Iraqi people and extend the hand of friendship to all neighboring and world countries," said Allawi, a secular Shiite politician and former prime minister who appealed across sectarian lines to minority Sunnis who have been out of power since the downfall of Saddam Hussein.
In comments to cheering supporters at his Baghdad headquarters, he spoke of his desire to help build a stable region that would help "achieve prosperity for (Iraq's) people."
Baghdad's Sunni neighborhoods, the site of vicious sectarian fighting just a few years ago, erupted in cheering, honking of horns and celebratory gunfire in support of the man whom they have endorsed as their own.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
With Allawi’s rumored ties to the CIA this promises not to be good.
I don’t know, he’s anti Iran and that would seem to a big plus right now, especially if he can more less unite the country.
Given how the haloed one feels about the Bush era( I assume that feeling includes the CIA) he might actually undercut Allawi. I don’t think Malicki would make this an issue, but the Sadrists,egged on by the IRG, would almost certainly highlight and exaggerate any ties to the CIA.The result can only be guessed.
He’s Shi’ite but highly secular in his thinking. Works for me.
Yep. President Bush’s utopian dream of a free and functioning Iraq is becoming closer to reality.
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