[Mb-civic] In Iraq's Choice, A Chance For Unity - David Ignatius - Washington Post Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

In Iraq's Choice, A Chance For Unity
<>
By David Ignatius
The Washington Post
Wednesday, April 26, 2006; A25

So what should the world make of Iraq's new prime minister, Jawad 
al-Maliki? What chance will his new government have of containing the 
sectarian violence in Iraq and averting a full-blown civil war?

The first reaction of many outsiders is likely to be, "Jawad who?" 
Maliki is not well known outside his country, and his election after a 
four-month impasse may seem anticlimactic. Indeed, since he is a member 
of the same Islamic faction, the Dawa party, as the incumbent, Ibrahim 
al-Jafari, people might imagine that little has changed. But that would 
be a mistake.

The most important fact about Maliki's election is that it's a modest 
declaration of independence from Iran. The Iranians waged a tough 
behind-the-scenes campaign to keep Jafari in office. Tehran issued 
veiled threats to Iraqi political leaders, in written letters and 
through emissaries, that if they didn't back Jafari, they would pay a 
price. In resisting this pressure, the political leaders were standing 
up for a unified Iraq. To succeed, Maliki must mobilize that desire for 
unity to break the power of the militias and insurgent groups.

"His reputation is as someone who is independent of Iran," explained 
Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad. He explained that 
although Maliki initially went into exile in Iran, "he felt he was 
threatened by them" because of his political independence, and later 
moved to Syria. "He sees himself as an Arab" and an Iraqi nationalist, 
Khalilzad said.

Iraqi political leaders offered similar endorsements of Maliki. Kurdish 
leader Barham Salih told me, "This is the opportunity for genuine 
reconciliation between the communities in Iraq." Haitham al-Husseini, a 
senior official in the largest Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the 
Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), predicted that "we will witness a 
great improvement in the security situation." He said Maliki's effort to 
form a unity government "will be supported by all the other big blocs in 
parliament," including the major Sunni parties.

The Iranians "pressured everyone for Jafari to stay," Khalilzad said. 
One senior Iraqi official said the gist of Iran's letters was "stick 
with him, or else." The phrasing was more subtle, including warnings 
that replacement of Jafari could "create instability" and damage the 
political prospects of those who opposed Iran's diktat. The decisive 
blow came from Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who let it be known 
in the final days that Jafari had to go.

Maliki's selection is something of a victory for Khalilzad, who has been 
a match for the Iraqis in his wily political wrangling. The American 
ambassador viewed Jafari as too weak and sectarian. When Jafari was 
renominated by the Shiite alliance in February, Khalilzad warned, 
initially in this column, that the United States wouldn't support a 
government that did not put unity first. Khalilzad helped organize a 
rival coalition of Kurdish and Sunni politicians that represented 143 
seats in parliament, more than the 130 seats of the Shiite alliance that 
had nominated Jafari. Meanwhile, he began holding marathon meetings with 
all the Iraqi factions to hammer out the political platform for a unity 
government.

Khalilzad explained that the logjam on Jafari was broken by two 
political forces. First, the Shiite alliance realized that the 
non-Shiites, with their 143 seats, were serious about creating an 
alternative government. The second was pressure from Sistani to resolve 
the dispute. The rejection of Jafari "showed great courage on the part 
of key Shia leaders," Khalilzad said. "It showed that Sistani doesn't 
take Iranian direction. It showed that [SCIRI leader] Abdul Aziz Hakim 
doesn't succumb to Iranian pressure. He stood up to Iran. It showed the 
same thing about the Kurdish leaders."

Nobody should confuse Jawad al-Maliki with George Washington. He's said 
to be a follower of the Lebanese Shiite leader Mohammed Hussein 
Fadlallah, the original spiritual adviser of Hezbollah, who later left 
the group in part because he viewed it as too close to Iran. Maliki is a 
tough Arab nationalist who will work with the United States in the short 
run but will want the United States to withdraw its forces from Iraq. 
His authentic Iraqi credentials could help pull the country together.

The challenge for Maliki is to restore order to a place that has become 
a synonym for death and destruction. His advisers say he may start by 
focusing on Baghdad -- working to bring the militias and death squads 
under the control of the Iraqi security forces. The car bombs are still 
exploding every day, but the Iraqis I talked with this week sense a 
change in the political wind.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/25/AR2006042501650.html
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