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Allawi's clandestine route to stability
Iraq's new prime minister, Iyad Allawi, calls it his program of "outreach.'' Over the past several weeks, he says, he has been meeting secretly with supporters of the Iraqi resistance to offer them amnesty and a chance to participate in the political process of the new Iraq.The risky clandestine meetings are the most intriguing of a series of stability efforts Allawi outlined in an interview here Tuesday. The conversation was his clearest public explanation yet of how he hopes to work with the internal opposition, and with neighboring governments such as Syria and Iran, to reduce the chaos plaguing his country. Since becoming prime minister last month, Allawi has projected an image of a burly ex-Baathist who is tough enough to manage this unruly country. Among the dozen or so Iraqis I've queried about him, most expressed the hope that, as one man put it, "he's not going to be intimidated by anyone.'' Posted by: tipper 2004-07-17 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=38355 |