Iraq's PM Maliki: democrat or autocrat?

To detractors, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threw down the gauntlet with stunning speed when his Shi'ite Muslim-led government demanded the arrest of a Sunni Muslim vice president seemingly moments after the departure of U.S. troops.

Already seen as having autocratic tendencies in a country where most people have known little but dictatorship, Maliki has long expressed doubt about the efficacy of his brawling partnership government of Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish factions.

But the move to arrest Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and a demand that parliament remove Maliki's Sunni deputy, Saleh al-Mutlaq, ignited a political storm that threatens Iraq's shaky U.S.-backed coalition and, for some, has called into question Maliki's commitment to any sort of democracy.

"There is no doubt (the arrest warrant) was choreographed to put down the marker, to eradicate any doubt over who was in charge in the wake of the U.S. troop withdrawal," said Ali al-Saffar, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit. …

Maliki was a student when he became involved with the Dawa party, founded in the late 1950s to promote the role of Islam in public life in response to rising secular Arab nationalism.

Dawa was driven underground after Saddam took power in 1979. Maliki was condemned to death as he agitated against Saddam from exile, mainly in Iran and Syria. …

"The authoritarian aspects of his (Maliki's) rule involve centralizing control of the security forces, seeking to influence the judiciary and trying to build tribal power bases in Sunni areas," said Reidar Visser, editor of Iraq-focused website www.historiae.org. …

-——Tongue planted firmly in cheek, I hope-——

No, of course not. I carefully chose every word to express the concept. Maliki is the elected president of a government that was created from air, He has a great deal of responsibility to proceed carefully but forcefully to create or obtain assistance to create that which must be created.

A strong hand and forceful personality is required. He has been provided the reins and must drive the coach.

There is a great and constant denigration of Arabs that is mostly delusion on the part of the denigrators. To assume there will be failure because of what amounts to racial superiority and blatant religious bigotry is a serious error and indicative of a serious lack of real knowledge.

To assume instant agreement by the factions and instant kumbaya togetherness is also a serious error in thinking. That is why a democratic autocrat is needed to apply a firm hand while shaping and reshaping and reshaping the amorphous political form.

To assume the present status is failure is also error. To assume time till absolute success is zero is a ridiculous and ignorant error also. History is a process, not an event. The historical process is unfolding in Iraq under the direction of an elected president. If he were totally unacceptable, he would not be.

Maliki is the elected president of a government that was created from air

All governments are "created from air" if that level of pedantry is to be exercised, but Maliki is not president; he's the appointed prime minister.

Jalal Talabani is the president of Iraq, and that position isn't directly elected by the people nor via an electoral college, but elected by and at the power of the Council of Representatives (imagine Congress having the sole power to elect the POTUS). Talabani is a member of a smaller minority (the Kurds), so his own position may be in danger now.

A strong hand and forceful personality is required

I'll take this sentence as instruction to disregard the rest of your post.

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