The Washington Monthly

May 29, 2004

IYAD ALLAWI....Seemingly out of nowhere, Iyad Allawi is the new interim prime minister of Iraq. Was he the UN's choice? The IGC's choice? America's choice? Sistani's choice?

There are as many answers as there are media reports about his selection. However, the dust is beginning to settle and the answer appears to be:

He is the IGC's compromise choice.
The United States and Britain are delighted with it.
The UN's Lakhdar Brahimi isn't all the delighted, but willing to go along.

Spencer Ackerman seems to have a pretty good roundup of how the whole deal went down. Here's his not-very-enthusiastic conclusion:

CBS News cited an Iraqi analyst describing Allawi's bent for "military politics." He's not exactly known for his commitment to democracy. His cousin Ali is defense minister. Governing Council member Mahmoud Othman explained that Allawi's nomination "has a great deal to do with security." It may be that the U.S. has decided to bet on a compliant strongman. Right now, though, it's not clear how strong he really is. Then again, that's typically been the way Iyad Allawi has preferred it.

But we'll have real elections next January anyway. Right?

—Kevin Drum 2:09 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (0)

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