from this link: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0720/Breakthrough-for-new-Iraq-government-Allawi-meets-Maliki-Sadr
Posted on 08/01/2010 6:32:11 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
Sadrists' stance comes after a five-month political stalemate that threatens to leave Iraq leaderless
The followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, who form a king-making bloc in the next Iraqi government, have confirmed they will not accept Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki's candidacy for a second term as leader.
The move effectively ends the career of the US-backed incumbent. The Sadrists' stance comes after a five-month political stalemate that threatens to leave Iraq leaderless, as the remaining 15,000 or so US forces leave the country ahead of a 31 August deadline.
The move is seen as a potential breakthrough in the destabilising deadlock that many believe has led to a steady increase in violence. The decision was confirmed today by the head of the Sadrist political bloc, Nassar al-Rubaie. He said he had told Maliki that he would have to leave his post in order for the Sadrists to maintain support for his party in an eventual coalition government.
Without the support of the Sadrists, who are led by the exiled anti-western cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, neither of the two biggest rival political blocs would be unlikely to be able to form a government. This includes the head of the Iraqiya Alliance, Iyad Allawi, who last month courted al-Sadr's support in a public meeting in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Thanks for the reply, it’s always good to get the straght dope.
Do you have some background information I could read that would support that? There was a massive smear campaign against him around the time of the invasion. Has it since been substantiated?
Search on Odierno and Chalabi.
then you may end up with http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/world/middleeast/17military.html
and this http://articlesofinterest-kelley.blogspot.com/2010/02/odierno-chalabi-lami-tied-to-iran.html
Interesting. Thanks for the information.
>>>”In my own opinion, the best-case scenario would be Allawi assuming the PM position. He is a secular Shia and western-friendly.”
I agree w/you on Allawi. But he’d better have some damn good bodyguards or chances are high that he’ll be killed.
In my view, Iraq & muslim countries like Iraq would need thousands of genuine & active secularists (Shia, Sunni, Arab or Kurd in Iraq’s case for instance), and support for these secuarlists from the West, to avoid becoming Islamist states. In which case, civil war might be unavoidable.
>>>”I will never be able to figure out why we took a country which was actually quite secular by that time and replaced a garden variety dictator with the most dictatorial system of all. We made that country safe for our mortal enemy, Islam.”
Paul Wolfowitz et al might be able to shed more light.
Personally, I always believed that if we really wanted to focus on ‘war on terror’, we should’ve gone for the Islamic Republic of Iran in the first place.
Sources in the Iraqia List said that Iraq’s former prime minister Iyad Allawi had strongly disagreed with a senior U.S. delegation during his talks held in the Kurdish city of Irbil. According to the sources, the Americans insist on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s stay in office. The sources conveyed in a statement that the U.S. delegation, which is currently visiting the country, ahead of a visit by the U.S. national security adviser, offered Allawi to become President of the National Security Council, after the legislation of a special law on its formation, in return for keeping al-Maliki as the head of the next government.
According to the sources, Allawi has strongly refused the American offer, saying his list was entitled to form the next government as it emerged as the biggest bloc in March 7’s elections.
http://www1.albawaba.com/en/main-headlines/allawi-rejects-us-offer-allow-pm-maliki-keep-office
Democracy? I'm tempted to go back to blaming Winston Churchill for the stupid borders they drew almost 100 years ago.
It is a fact that the *Shia* Iranian regime has been left to do what it wants for 31 yrs. The Saudis for a different version of the same.
Especially since Khomeini, the secularists in the muslim world continue to be marginalized. The West has done little to counter it, and actually helped to spread the Islamic ideology. Not too difficult to work out the rest …
My impressions are that many either go with the official flow or just keep quiet & get on with their lives because they don’t see *rocking the boat* worth the trouble.
from this link: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0720/Breakthrough-for-new-Iraq-government-Allawi-meets-Maliki-Sadr
al-Sadr should be shot in the head, and his carcass dumped in the street to be devoured by dogs. But I’m funny that way. :’)
Thanks, and IMHO, you’re right. But it will require some more bloodshed I think.
/bingo
Of course, it would also be desirable (and satisfying) if there were a smart bomb involved and lots of collateral damage to his HQ and compound (and everyone in it).
Right. If one had to go for the jugular, instead of a proxy (Maliki), it’d have to be al Sadr.
But then it goes back to why we are in this conundrum to begin with.
It’ll be nice when it happens. Once Iran starts the shooting war — or once Israel makes a preemptive strike against Iran such that the mullahcracy is unable to respond in kind, therefore showing it to be weak — al Sadr will be killed by Iraqis.
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.