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Can Shiite Jaafari unify the new Iraq?
13.2.2006
By Dan Murphy
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Ibrahim al-Jaafari was selected Sunday by the
Shiite bloc to remain PM.
BAGHDAD – After weeks of dispute within the
bloc of Shiite Islamist politicians over who would
lead Iraq's next government, Sunday they decided
that Ibrahim al-Jaafari should keep his job as the
country's prime minister.
Mr. Jaafari won the Shiite nomination by a one-vote
margin over current Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi,
virtually cementing his position in the powerful
role for the next four years.
Mr. Jaafari's nomination won't be official until a
new government is formed, something that looks like
it is to be weeks away, at least.
While the selection of Jaafari by the most powerful
bloc in the new parliament is an important step in
forming that government, his appointment could prove
to be a significant stumbling block in negotiations
between Shiites, Kurds, and Sunni Arabs. |
Ibrahim al-Jaafari was selected Sunday by the Shiite
bloc to remain prime minister in
the first full-term government since the fall of
Saddam Hussein
Photo: AP |
Leaders of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the
Shiite bloc that won 47 percent of the seats in
Iraq's Dec. 15 election, have repeatedly promised to
form a middle-of-the-road government designed to
cool Iraq's sectarian and ethnic tensions.
And Jaafari pledged Sunday to work with all Iraqi
groups to form a government that will serve "the
great interests of Iraq."
"This process will start to employ all the energies
to build Iraq, to move ahead on the security
situation, on services, on the economic situation
and reconstruction, on political performance
internally and externally," he said at a press
conference Sunday.
But during his year in power, Jaafari, leader of the
Dawa (or Islamic Call) party, has become one of the
country's most polarizing and divisive politicians.
Analysts say Jaafari's nomination makes it much less
likely that a "national unity" government -
something touted by US officials here as a solution
to the country's insurgency - will be formed.
Many Sunni Arabs blame him for the murder and
torture of alleged insurgents by the country's
Shiite-led security services; Kurds dislike him for
a war of words between him and Kurdish leader Jalal
Talabani last year; secular Iraqis and the US have
been opposed to his advocacy for strengthened
Islamic law here; and many average Iraqis are
frustrated that the public face of ongoing economic
and security failures will keep his job.
Mr. Talabani told reporters Sunday that he wouldn't
support a government led by Jaafari unless it gives
a cabinet post to Iraqi List's Iyad Allawi, a
US-backed secularist.
But last year, when forming Iraq's current
government, Jaafari refused to accede to the same
Kurdish demand, angry that Mr. Allawi supported
easing up on the country's de-Baathification
program.
"The Kurdish Coalition will not take part in the
coming government unless the Iraqi List takes part
in it,'' Talabani told reporters after meeting
Sunday with US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.
The dapper Jaafari, who once refused to shake US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's hand out of
his sense of Islamic modesty, was the choice of UIA
officials after weeks of often heated debate.
UIA officials say that the swing votes for Jaafari's
victory were provided by followers of the firebrand
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army has fought
pitched battles with US forces on at least two
occasions.
Mr. Sadr continues to demand a fast withdrawal of US
forces from Iraq and says he supports armed
resistance if that doesn't happen. He's also set to
solidify his transformation from a rabble rouser
with a private army behind him into a powerful
politician. His movement controls three ministries -
and the patronage opportunities they generate - in
the current government, and is hoping to see that
number increase to five in reward for backing
Jaafari.
Meanwhile, having lost the premiership, the Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI),
who selected Mr. Mahdi, is likely to dig in its
heels on the ministries it currently controls,
particularly the contentious Ministry of the
Interior, which controls the police, paramilitary
squads like the feared Wolf Brigade, and domestic
intelligence.
Allegations of torture and abuse by Interior
Ministry officials, currently led by SCIRI member
Bayan Jabr - a former leader of SCIRI's private
militia, the Badr Brigade - have come fast and
furious in the past year, and have been frequently
substantiated.
US Ambassador Khalilzad has pressed hard in recent
weeks for the ministry to be kept out of the group's
hands in the next government, and Sunni Arab
politicians have said continued SCIRI control of the
ministry will lead them to refuse to join a
coalition government.
Nevertheless, Hadi al-Amiri, current leader of the
Badr Brigade, says that SCIRI will not give up
control of the Interior Ministry, saying the past
abuse of the ministry by Saddam Hussein's Sunni
Arab-lead government makes it important they held
the post to protect themselves.
Shiite lawmakers cast their votes at the heavily
guarded home of Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of
Mahdi's party. Jaafari's supporters gathered in the
compound cheered when word of the outcome emerged.
Jaafari, a physician, spent years in exile in Iran
and Britain before returning to his homeland after
the 2003 US-led invasion.
Jaafari's government, which took office in April
2005, had been widely criticized for failing to
improve Iraq's crumbling infrastructure or deal
effectively with the Sunni-led insurgency. Jaafari's
supporters had complained of infighting within the
dominant Shiite alliance.
www.csmonitor.com
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