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Baath water to be fully tossed?
EFL... Sorry ’bout the excessive title.
WASHINGTON—The new Iraqi prime minister is committed to civilian control over the military and will not reconstitute the Iraqi Baath party defeated last April by coalition forces, according to Iraq’s leading human rights activist, Kanan Makiya. Mr. Makiya told The New York Sun yesterday said he had received assurances in a three-hour meeting last month from Iyad Allawi that he would not take steps to allow senior Baathists into the new government, an important pledge given Mr. Allawi’s background as the leader of the Wifaq, a collection of former Baathist officials who fell out of favor with Saddam Hussein.
That’s good news, if true (it was a month ago).
Mr. Allawi told reporters at a ceremony unveiling his new government that he believed American soldiers would be a necessary partner in bringing stability and security to his country. “We will need the participation of the multinational forces to help in defeating the enemies of Iraq. We will enter into alliances with our allies to accomplish that,” he said.
I suspect that’s why he was picked.
After prevailing over the wishes of Mr. Brahimi and the White House over the appointment of the largely ceremonial presidency, the IGC dissolved itself, a full month ahead of when the new regime is expected to take power. In the coming month, the new government is expected to convene a large caucus to choose an interim legislative branch.
So who issues the silly proclamations this month?
The new interim government will be headed by Mr. Allawi, along with tribal chief Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer as president; the leader of the Shiite Muslim Dawa party, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, as one vice president; and the deputy of the Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masoud Barzani, Rowsch Shaways, as the other vice president. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s chief administrator, Barham Salih, accepted, after initially rejecting, the post of deputy prime minister for National Security.
And now for the testimonials...
The vice president of the American Enterprise Institute for foreign and defense police studies, Danielle Pletka, said she “almost fell out of my chair,” when she heard the head of the interim government would be Mr. Allawi. “I thought the U.N. and the U.S. wanted a technocrat with credibility in Iraq and we got a fixer whose best friends are in Langley, Va., not Baghdad, Iraq.”
Ouch.
A former CIA operations officer who worked in Iraq, Robert Baer, told the Sun yesterday that Mr.Allawi was “not an agent of anyone.” Mr.Baer said, “He is in the same category of Chalabi, he’s an exile who wanted to go back.” He added that Mr. Allawi “had a more pragmatic vision for Iraq” than Mr. Chalabi, who wanted to foment a popular, democratic uprising against Saddam. Mr. Allawi, according to Mr. Baer, “would have been happy to reconstitute the army and create a military government in Iraq.”
Happier than working towards free government? Let’s hope not.
Mr. Makiya said he believed the interim government would be competent. “I think it is very good government. It has good and capable people. I am very glad the governing council has played a role in shaping it and I am glad the United States chose to go down that road instead of working behind the scenes through (chief administrator) L. Paul Bremer.”
Posted by: someone 2004-06-02
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=34486