Ex-Iraqi leader returning 'to fight for our country'

[NeoConsSuck]

Source: CNN.COM

Iraq's former interim prime minister accused Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of fomenting the sectarian violence plaguing the war-ravaged nation and said Sunday he will return to Baghdad soon to "reverse the course in Iraq."

However, Ayad Allawi's ties to a powerful Washington-based GOP lobbying firm is raising eyebrows as President Bush has adamantly expressed his support for al-Maliki.

Speaking from Amman, Jordan, Allawi told "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" that he will push for "a less sectarian, nonsectarian course" when he goes back to Baghdad next week -- and al-Maliki's ouster may be part of the solution.

<snip>
Allawi has hired Barbour Griffith & Rogers, a GOP lobbying firm that employs two of Bush's former foreign policy aides: Robert Blackwill served as Bush's envoy to Iraq and helped form Allawi's interim government in 2004, and Philip Zelikow formerly served as counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.




Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/26/allawi.returns/index.html

[msongs]

1. Bush stages a coup with US troops as the muscle and enforcers nt

[jeff30997]

2. Reverse the course ,stay the course...

Now I'm all confused!:)

[alfredo]

3. A bit of natural selection to begin soon?

[Kagemusha]

4. Natural isn't the word I'd use but, yeah.

Competition, certainly.

[alfredo]

6. When Allawi visited the US I knew a coup was on the way.

Allawi is a Shia, but also a former Ba'athist. One thing in his favor, he is a confirmed secularist.

[PSPS]

5. So in comes "Saddam Lite"

So now we'll install another Saddam, but one who will play ball with ExxonMobil. It sure would have made more sense to leave the original alone, now wouldn't it? (Except for that pesky nationalized oil, that is.)

[IndianaGreen]

7. As PM, Allawi executed two men arrested on suspicion of bombing activities

This was widely reported in the press, even in Iraq. Allawi is a Shia version of Saddam: secular, corrupt, and totally brutal.

One good thing about Allawi, he hates the religious fundies as much as Saddam did. An Allawi regime, backed by US guns, will reverse the excesses of religious edicts that have caused so much grief to women, gays, and non-Muslims.

There are no good options in Iraq.

BTW, the reason big GOP money is backing Allawi is because he will preserve our oil interests in the region.

Can we say that Allawi is an Iraqi version of Somoza or Trujillo?

[John Q. Citizen]

9. And Nuri al-Maliki may end up like Diem did.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Allawi won't be able to hang up to power unless the Sunnis back him

His political party was trounced in the now forgottten "purple finger" elections, and he is distrusted by the Shia religious parties.

A Shia civil war is possible!

[Gloria]

8. VERY Impt. Article I posted only a couple of weeks ago

in the WMW...

Note the comment at the end of the snippet about his lack of a domestic power base....But, hey, who
needs that when you've got DC and you're willing to become the new strong
man????

This stuff is really beginning to drive me nuts, and the Democrats sure aren't
helping...We're about to install a guy with no real domestic base but who will do Bush's bidding....with "security" first on the agenda.....which means, endless crap in Iraq for the foreseeable future. OK, Levin and Hillary...what's next??? Does Hillary approve???

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong August 4, 2007

MALIKI OUT ON HIS FEET

By Sami Moubayed

(SNIP)

Instead, Iraqis will remember Maliki as a selfish, sectarian politician who
divided the country as never before, between Shi'ites and Sunnis. They will
remember the death squads that flourished under his regime, the targeted
assassinations of Sunni notables, and they will see him as a stooge of the
Americans who was unable to fulfill any of the promises he made when coming to
power in May 2006.

(SNIP)

The hammer blow for Maliki could be if Allawi's four remaining ministers on the
United Iraqi List abandon the cabinet, as they have hinted they will do soon.
Allawi, who has his eyes set on becoming prime minister, said his party is "studying" a walkout similar
to that of the Iraqi Accordance Front.

(SNIP)

With it seemingly just a question of when, rather than if, Maliki goes, four
names are already being bandied about as his replacement.

Iyad Allawi. He is the best known of the candidates but does not stand a high
chance because of his secular views in a country now dominated by radical Islam.
Allawi, a former Ba'athist who was close to the US Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA), helped bring down the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003 and became prime
minister for an interim period in 2004. ... Allawi has repeatedly said he does
not think Iraq is ready for the kind of democracy imposed by the Americans in 2003 - it has
to get rid of tribalism and sectarianism first. Therefore, if he were to return
to power, security, rather than democracy, would be first on his agenda. The
former medical doctor has been criticizing Maliki since last year, and recently
toured the Arab world to drum up support for a comeback. Domestically, however,
he does not have much of a power base.

etc....the rest of the contenders at that point in time

[Massachusetts]

11. Shame on the Iraqi voters

Don't they understand how the electionand political process under Bu$hco Inc. works?

If we don't Impeach now then when?