I hope a new, U.S. friendly, strongman arises in Iraq.
Ala Saddam Hussein
Iraqis are too stupid, wilful and warlike to govern themselves. They deserved Saddam.
It was a mistake to have removed him. We should have bought him off.
The BIG boo-boo’s of the Bush’s; alienating Saddam
This is great news.
Mohammed Allawi is the cousin of Ayad Allawi - the most pro-American candidate we have had to lead Iraq, since before Saddams Baath Party took power.
Ayad Allawi previously won the most votes in an election (less than an outright majority) - but the Obama Admin got involved an worked out a deal where the much more pro-Iranian al Maliki was made Prime Minister instead.
Iraq was thrown to the wolves, and the major city of Mosul ended up being devastated, in the biggest urban battle since Stalingrad (after Obama had already cashed his check from the Nobel Peace Prize).
The Allawi family are representatives of the old line Shiite elite of Iraq - the old money families, businessmen (the Bazaar), and those highly educated in secular subjects. Pragmatists, modernizers, and with wide social networks to draw on.