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Push for new government in Iraq begins
9.3.2007
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March 9, 2007
BAGHDAD -- The secular former prime minister
and U.S. favorite Ayad Allawi is leading a new push
to replace the Shiite-led administration of Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki with a broad-based
government that would focus on restoring order.
Amid deepening concerns among Sunnis and secularists
about al-Maliki's performance, Allawi has emerged at
the center of an initiative to create a "national
salvation front," which his supporters say would be
able to secure the backing of Iraqi insurgents,
reunite the country and end the sectarian conflict
that has prevailed for more than a year.
Though Allawi's aides deny that he wants to replace
al-Maliki as prime minister, Allawi is preparing to
embark on a tour of the region to win the support of
Arab governments for his proposals, just as
representatives of Iraq's neighbors are gathering
with the U.S. in Baghdad for a regional conference
intended to shore up support for the al-Maliki
government.
The idea of a new coalition to overturn the current
political process is not new, and the front has yet
to be fully formed.
But the effort has been given new momentum by the
reappearance on the Iraqi political scene of Allawi,
a high-profile U.S. ally who is both a Shiite and a
centrist; the defection this week of the Fadhila
Party, a small faction from Maliki's ruling Shiite
coalition, and a trip made by Allawi in the company
of U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad to visit the
Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani last weekend.
U.S. Embassy officials refused to say why Khalilzad
accompanied Allawi on the trip to Kurdistan or what
was discussed during the talks.
But the Kurdistan visit was interpreted by many in
Baghdad as a public display of support for Allawi by
the U.S. It was also seen as a warning to Maliki
that he cannot count on continued U.S. support if
his Shiite-led government does not deliver on a
range of promises intended to end the simmering
sectarian conflict and bring about real
reconciliation with Sunnis.
"You see Allawi meeting with Barzani and the U.S.
ambassador is with Allawi, so people analyze this as
meaning that the U.S. supports Allawi," said Kurdish
legislator Mahmoud Othman, who discussed the meeting
with Barzani and does not believe the U.S. has made
a decision to support the new front.
"Maybe the U.S. is using this to put pressure on
Maliki to deliver more, to remind him that there are
alternatives," Othman said.
Sunnis and secularists staunchly opposed to the
Islamist Shiite parties now running the government
have unsuccessfully tried to find ways to block
Shiite rule since the December 2005 election, which
gave Shiites a plurality, though not an outright
majority, in the Iraqi parliament.
For any new coalition to have a chance of outvoting
the Maliki government in parliament, it would have
to secure the backing of the Kurds, the second
largest parliamentary bloc. The Kurds teamed up with
the Shiite coalition to form a majority in the
current government.
The Kurds are not prepared to abandon their Shiite
partners for now, said Othman, which makes it
difficult to see how Allawi can succeed in his
efforts.
The U.S. has also given no indication that it is
considering abandoning Maliki. Addressing reporters
at his first press conference on Thursday, Gen.
David Petraeus, the new commander of U.S. forces in
Iraq, expressed full confidence in Maliki, saying
that he and his team are "striving to be leaders for
all Iraqis and responsive to the desires of all
Iraqis."
The political maneuvering has nonetheless triggered
rumors across Baghdad that a coup plot is being
hatched, stirring fury among Maliki's supporters.
"If there is any conspiracy or plot against Maliki's
government, millions of people will take to the
streets," Shiite legislator Hassan Snaid, one of
Maliki's closest advisors, told Al-Hurra TV, in a
reminder that the Shiite government enjoys the
support of the vast majority of ordinary Shiites.
Supporters of the new front deny that they are
conspiring to remove Maliki. They say they will only
seek to replace him if he fails to fulfill a set of
demands that includes the formation of a new
government, an overhaul of the De-Baathification
law, which prevents many former Baathists from
returning to public life, and a review of the
constitution.
These are longstanding Sunni demands, backed by the
U.S., that Maliki has repeatedly said he will
address. They also include a revamp of his cabinet,
which he has promised in the coming week.
"Our problem is not with Mr. Maliki as a person. Our
problem is with the system, which must be modified,"
said Izzat Shahbandar, a parliamentarian from
Allawi's bloc who is closely involved in the new
effort.
"The first step is for Mr. Maliki to make changes
and if he doesn't respond we are ready to form a
parliamentary bloc that is big enough to remove the
prime minister."
As the U.S. dispatches extra troops to the streets
of Baghdad to shore up Maliki's government, the U.S.
has also been quietly pressuring him to do more to
reach out to Sunnis.
Petraeus reiterated the view expressed by military
commanders in the past that, ultimately, a
resolution of the conflict in Iraq
will require political reconciliation between the
factions.
"That is what will determine in the long run the
success of this effort. And again, that clearly has
to include talking with and eventually reconciling
differences with some of those who have felt that
the new Iraq did not have a place for them," he
said.
"Prime Minister Maliki clearly believes that it
does, and I think that his actions will demonstrate
that," Petraeus added.
The latest challenge to Maliki has the support of
most members of the main parliamentary Sunni and
secular blocs, and efforts are also underway to lure
support away from the Shiite coalition, which
controls 128 seats. Past efforts to split the United
Iraqi Alliance have failed, though the small Fadhila
Party, with 15 seats, announced it was leaving the
coalition earlier this week.
But with the Kurds in control of 53 seats, that
still leaves the Allawi initiative far short of the
138 seats needed to bring about a parliamentary
coup, however.
"I'm not optimistic that it will succeed," said
Othman, the Kurdish legislator. "I'd prefer a
secular government, but the Shiites are sticking
together and they're a strong coalition."
chicagotribune com
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