TIME: Why Iraqis Aren't Cheering Their New Government

[DeepModem Mom]

Why Iraqis Aren't Cheering Their New Government
U.S. officials are more optimistic than the locals about a new cabinet that looks a lot like the old one, and leaves vacant the most contentious posts
By APARISIM GHOSH/BAGHDAD
Posted Saturday, May. 20, 2006

U.S. officials are spinning the formation of Iraq's new government as a triumph of democracy and the first step toward stabilizing the civil war-ravaged country. But Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's cabinet, sworn in Saturday after five months of bickering and brinkmanship has been greeted with a mixture of incredulity and skepticism by many Iraqis. "All that time spent in negotiations, and they couldn't fill the most important positions," says schoolteacher Salah Ubeidi, referring to three security-related posts that have been left vacant for now. "Why should we trust them to make the important decisions that need to be made?"

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, desperate for the creation of a "national unity" government that includes representatives of all the ethnic and sectarian groups, has declared Maliki's 37-member cabinet a giant leap forward. "With the political change that has taken place, with the emphasis on unity and reconciliation, with effective ministers, with associated activities, conditions are likely to move in the right direction and that would allow adjustments in terms of the size composition and mission of our forces," Khalilzad said. Expect that sentiment to be echoed by Bush Administration officials in Washington, where political progress is regarded as essential to allow a drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq. Reading from the same script, Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, America's staunchest ally in Iraq, said Saturday's ceremony "provides a good omen to our people that the government will achieve for them security, stability, peace and prosperity."

But for many Iraqis, such optimism is hard to justify, especially since the new government includes several of the inept, corrupt and thoroughly discredited leaders who had made such a hash of the interim administration under the previous Prime Minister, Ibrahim Jaafari. Indeed, the most discredited of them all, former Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, has received a promotion.

During his year as Interior Minister, Jabr had become the symbol of governmental failure — and that was the charitable view. Others, especially the minority Sunnis, accused him of looking to other way as Shi'ite militias infiltrated the police force and, shielded by their uniforms, launched a campaign of kidnapping, torture and assassination of Sunnis. Jabr is himself connected to the Badr Brigades, a Shi'ite militia that was created and funded by Iran. Although he denied that death squads were at large in the police force, he failed to halt the killings, which currently run at around 1,000 a month in Baghdad alone....

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1196366,00.html?cnn=yes

[dogday]

1. It's a sham

It's not what the people want, it is what the administration wants.....

[The Magistrate]

2. There Is Some Ghastly Naivite In This Commentary, Ma'am

Mr. Jabr is hardly "discredited": he is in fact about the most successful member of the former puppet show, and well deserves his promotion. He is the man in the government who directly controls men with guns, and they are doing just what he wants done.

[rodeodance]

3. hey, promotions--lessons learned from our WH>

former Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, has received a promotion.