Iran Wins Iraqi Elections 7 Months Later (by Juan Cole)

[kpete]

Iran Wins Iraqi Elections 7 Months Later
Posted on October 2, 2010 by Juan
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Although it make take some time yet to form a government in Iraq, Friday may have been a turning point. If so, it was a turning point in which Iran won decisively and managed to rebuild a Shiite fundamentalist coalition led by incumbent PM Nuri al-Maliki that, in partnership with the Kurds, could dominate Baghdad for the next four years.

This development would forestall Washington’s earlier plans to try to shoehorn into power the anti-Iranian ex-Baathist Iyad Allawi and his largely Sunni-supported Iraqiya party. In recent weeks, since the advent of a new US ambassador in Baghdad and a new commanding general, there have been rumors that the Obama administration had decided to support incumbent Nuri al-Maliki and to give up on any hope of installing Allawi or giving him control over Iraq’s security forces, which had been Washington’s first preference. Al-Maliki at the same time garnered the support of Iran and of Syria, though these may have each been independent decisions.

On Thursday, September 30, the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat had reported that (h/t to USG Open Source Center for the translation):

‘ Another source has stressed that: “the Iranian pressure exerted on Muqtada al-Sadr has reached its peak.” He added: “This has caused the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq under the leadership of Ammar al-Hakim to threaten to withdraw from the National Iraqi Alliance and turn to the Al-Iraqiyah List and the Kurdistan Alliance to form a new alliance.” He told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that and Al-Iraqiyah List leaders held a meeting to discuss this issue yesterday. He pointed out that the meeting was held at the same time when Al-Sadr was making telephone calls to the leader of the Al-Iraqiyah List and Mas’ud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). He said that, in his calls, Al-Sadr hinted at the possibility of supporting Al-Maliki. ‘

more:
http://www.juancole.com/2010/10/iran-wins-iraqi-elections-7-months-later.html

[TexasObserver]

1. The inevitable outcome of Bush's "democracy in Iraq" strategy.

Apparently, Bush never understood that the country who would "win" such elections would be Iran. Those guys never knew the difference between Sunni and Shia until long after they were in the war, if then.