It took over two months since Iraqi fingers went purple for the assembly to announce the country’s new leaders, which turned out to be more of a whimper than a bang, trumped by a papal funeral, a royal wedding and Michael Jackson’s trial.
But, despite the delay, due to vigorous horse-trading and strict parameters imposed by US Viceroy Paul Bremer before his departure, the line-up turned out to be fairly predictable.
Ibrahim Jaafari, a devout soft-spoken Shiite doctor, who heads the Dawa Party, with ties to Iran, gets the top job of prime minister. Despite many long years exiled in Britain, Jaafari is a conservative favoring Shariah law along with the swift exit of foreign forces.
Jalal Talabani, law graduate and leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), who headed an armed campaign against the regime of Saddam Hussein before fleeing to Iran, is the president. On Sunday, he told CNN of his country’s need for American forces to stay and hotly rejected the idea of an Islamic government.
Taking a step down is former Interim President Ghazi Al-Yawar, a Sunni civil engineer who now becomes joint vice president along with Adel Abdel-Mahdi, an Iraqi ex-finance minister, and son of a respected Shiite cleric.
Hajim Al-Hassani, a Sunni Turkmen is the assembly’s new speaker. Al-Hassani has lived in the US for most of his adult life where he gained a doctorate in agriculture and ran an investment firm. Prior to being appointed speaker he sought to privatize sectors of the economy, unsuccessfully, as caretaker minister for industry and minerals, and was kicked out of the Sunni-led Iraq Islamic Party over his support for US attacks on Fallujah.
Al-Hassani is assisted by two deputies: Former nuclear scientist Hussain Al-Shahristani, a Shiite who sought refuge in Britain after being jailed by Saddam for refusing to build a bomb, and Aref Taifour, considered a leading figure in the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP).
What about US favorite Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi? Where does he figure in the great scheme of things? Allawi’s secular Shiite group came a low third in the polls but that didn’t deter him from seeking to hold on to his job. First he bent the ear of the Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani but didn’t get very far with him since he had initially rejected joining the Ayatollah’s list.
Then he dashed off to northern Iraq on several occasions to meet with Kurdish leaders hoping they would take pity on a poor out-of-work premier. No such luck.
But now that he’s faced with a fait accompli and presumably doused his ego with iced water, he has agreed that his bloc should join the new government, provided it gets four Cabinet posts, including one of the main ministries.
Given that Iraqis have a newly formed, democratically elected, broadly representative government they should be over the moon right? Let’s see what bloggers have to say.
Girl Blog From Iraq: “No one (from the media) bothered with the demonstrations in Baghdad, Mosul, Anbar and the south. There was hundreds of Shiites screaming ‘No to America...No to terrorism...No to occupation...No to the Devil...No to Israel’. The numbers were amazing and a little bit frightening too. Ever since Jalal Talabani was named president, there have been many angry Shiite demonstrations. It’s useless explaining that the presidential chair is only symbolic — it doesn’t mean anything...The disturbing thing is how the Kurds could agree to have someone with so much blood on his hands.”
A Family in Baghdad: “People talk between them and wonder: ‘what is the role of our leaders here?’ Shouldn’t one of their priorities be giving enough interest and providing clear answers...instead of mumbling, stalling and running away from facing the truth? I do not know why but I think that they are afraid. The whole world fears America. Isn’t this the reality of things? Who would dare to say his opinion or challenge her?”
Iraq the Model: “Those who really represent me and my people are the men and women we voted for and put our trust in; men liked Ibrahim Al-Jaafari and Jalal Talabani, who are grateful for the nations that helped Iraq in the darkest times and freed its peoples when our ‘brothers’ ignored us and silently watched the Baath murder and torture our people and worse...”
Occupation Watch: “Antonia Juhasz, writer and activist, says Vice President Abdel Mahdi is a Trojan horse for US oil interests. Mahdi has proposed a plan to privatize Iraq’s oil and put it into American corporate hands. The Petroleum Economist claims that elections set the stage for ‘overhauling the oil sector’ and ‘preparing the ground for foreign investment’ through a new legal framework.
US forces are increasingly putting newly trained Iraqi interim government forces on patrol and withdrawing to their bases. Consequently, while the casualty rate for Iraqi civilians continues to rise, the US casualty rate has declined and US corporate media coverage declines along with it”.
I recently asked two businessmen from Baghdad what they thought of Jaafari. “Iran”, they answered in unison.
“What about Talabani?” I asked. “America,” came the reply.
Iraq may have a new government but there are still too many foreign fingers in the pie. Still, Iraqis seem broadly optimistic and are crossing their fingers in the hope their new leadership will put their interests first with security, jobs and essential services at the top of the list.
The rest of us, even those who were against the invasion, can only wish the Iraqi people and their new leadership every success. They have surely suffered enough for several lifetimes and deserve a break from bombs, bullets, tyrants and torturers, both homegrown and imported.
