I always liked this guy and voted for him twice. He's strong, understands & indentifies the problems and offers solutions. He was also interviewed by BBC HARDTALK yesterday and everything he said made perfect sense to me. If there was an election tomorrow I'd vote for him again.
Asharq Al-Awsat: Who rules Iraq today? Allawi: All the armed militias -- Shiites and Sunnis -- the takfiri forces, the terrorists, and those who call themselves resistance -- these are the forces that control the Iraqi street today.
Asharq Al-Awsat Do you think the situation will get worse? Allawi Yes, it will deteriorate into further blood and destruction. The deeper the differences get the more difficult the correction of the Iraqi situation becomes, and the problem, consequently, will spill out of Iraq and will take roots in Iraq. The forces in Iraq will engage in struggles in the future (God forbid), entering the frameworks of sectarian fighting that will have a beginning but no end. This is the danger against which we warned when we said that the sectarian quota system would kill Iraq and the region. No one paid attention at the time. I was the first to warn that there was civil war in Iraq. Some brothers, and even some Iraqi officials, criticized those statements, but the fact is that what we see today is far more serious than civil war. The losses incurred during civil wars are far less than the human losses among the Iraqis today.
Asharq Al-Awsat This means there is a civil war taking place in Iraq today. Allawi Absolutely. There is civil war.
Asharq Al-Awsat You often criticize the Iraqi government, which says it is a national unity government in which you participate. Why don't you withdraw from the government? Allawi This is not a national unity government. It is a government of sectarian quotas that does not represent national accord. We reluctantly agreed to join it in the hope that it would amend its course, learn, and be a really national unity government. But after the deadline we gave the government, we now have a different and a new position that we in the national Iraqi List began to study to see if it is useful for us to remain in the executive power. The Iraqi List has no role in the executive power. I can clearly say that our List and its components, including the Iraqi National Accord Movement, are being subjected to daily attacks and continuous destruction. We have a large number of detainees in the jails of the Iraqi regime. They suffer the harshest forms of torture. Tomorrow (today), a National Accord Movement delegation will meet with officials from Amnesty International in an attempt to obtain the release of the detainees, one of them was placed in a coffin for more than 20 days and was threatened to be buried alive. The members and inclinations of the Iraqi List are targeted. Very regrettably, the Iraqi government did nothing against these practices. It is just watching the arrests, torture, killing, marginalization, and dismissal from work. There isn't any government measure to stop this hostile episode against the Iraqi List and the National Accord Movement.
Asharq Al-Awsat Who rules Iraq today? Allawi All the armed militias -- Shiites and Sunnis -- the takfiri forces, the terrorists, and those who call themselves resistance -- these are the forces that control the Iraqi street today.
Asharq Al-Awsat: Is there a genuine Iraqi resistance? Allawi: There is certainly a genuine Iraqi resistance. The Americans talked with this resistance and with the Baathists. That happened in my presence. But it appears they achieved no results. Asharq Al-Awsat: Whom do you mean by Baathists? Allawi: The official representatives of the Baath Party. They officially talked with high-ranking officials from the coalition countries, including the Americans.
Allawi This is a conflict between moderation and extremism. At the end of the day, sectarianism, terrorism, and extremism are different sides of the same coin. Here, through this respected newspaper, I warn against the focus on the issues of Shiites and Sunnis. All the Arabs and the Islamic countries should encourage the national Iraqi dimension and affiliation to Iraq. They should not encourage a Shiite-Sunni balance because if we raise the issue in this way it will lead to destruction. The right path and the final destiny of Iraq is the national affiliation, not the sectarian, denominational, or ethnic affiliation. No matter how long it takes, I am sure the will of the Iraqi people will be the strongest. We have seen the fate of the extremists, whether those who embraced the extremist national thought or the extremist socialist thought. Everyone with an extremist thought in our region will be on his way to his end. The thought of moderation and the forces of logic will ultimately prevail.
< Message edited by azinorum -- 1/23/2007 11:53:05 AM >
Posts: 479
Score: 9 Joined: 10/26/2004 From: California Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: azinorum This is the danger against which we warned when we said that the sectarian quota system would kill Iraq and the region.
this is exactly what the west was counting on.
quote:
ORIGINAL: azinorum Absolutely. There is civil war.
this was my sentiments from day one.
quote:
ORIGINAL: azinorum
This is not a national unity government. It is a government of sectarian quotas that does not represent national accord.
I do not beleive there will ever be a national accord in Iraq after today.
quote:
ORIGINAL: azinorum
We have a large number of detainees in the jails of the Iraqi regime. They suffer the harshest forms of torture.
Isn't this the way governments ruled in the middle east since the dawn of modern history?
quote:
ORIGINAL: azinorum
There is certainly a genuine Iraqi resistance. The Americans talked with this resistance and with the Baathists. They officially talked with high-ranking officials from the coalition countries, including the Americans.
I can assure everyone that these talks are still taking place on regular basis, but they are not to stop the violence, but to make plans for more of it.
quote:
ORIGINAL: azinorum
I am sure the will of the Iraqi people will be the strongest.
I pray day and night for the Iraqi people to come out victorious and be able to rebuild Iraq to be the envy of the world.
Sure he was one of the good politicians in Iraq now,nationalist, good caracter,had a nice aknolegement,responsible, but he lost some of his popularity when he gave the order to attack Fellouja and not accepted the negociations with the national resistance, many of my friends and family vote for him in Baghdad and i hope he will get better in next elections.
< Message edited by al ani -- 1/23/2007 1:56:49 PM >
Ex-PM’s Iraqi National List accuses Maliki’s government of sectarian bias, narrow-mindedness.
BAGHDAD - The secular party led by former Iraqi interim prime minister Iyad Allawi threatened Thursday to quit the country's embattled government of national unity, accusing officials of sectarian bias. Allawi's Iraqi National List is the only major political party in Iraq to include high ranking members from both the Sunni and Shiite community. It has five ministers and 25 members of parliament.
If Allawi's supporters were to quit Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition, it would strike a blow to attempts to portray the government as a moderate, non-sectarian force in an Iraq increasingly divided by violence and extremism. The List says Maliki's Shiite-led government has failed to honour promises to allow more Sunnis into public service and of persecuting its enemies under the guise of fighting corruption and terrorism.
"We strongly fear that the government's announced security plan will suffer setbacks because of disagreements and clashes between senior officials," the List said, in a statement sent to reporters.
"In this context, the Iraqi List feels it will soon no longer be able to accept the responsibility of being in this government, because of its sectarian domination and narrow-mindedness," it warned.
"We wouldn't have joined government in the first place but for pressure on us to serve the national interest, but in the last few months the government has done the opposite, and committed despicable acts against many citizens."
The coalition that was formed in June last year, after Iraq's first election since the fall of Saddam Hussein, is a fractious collection of often feuding parties, many of them with links to militias engaged in sectarian violence.
Allawi was appointed as Iraq's interim premier in June 2004 when the US occupying authorities returned Iraq's sovereignty, but his secular party lost out to Shiite Islamists in the later elections.
The party did not set a deadline for its withdrawal, but party spokesman Ibrahim al-Janabi said that the day would soon be at hand.
"This is a final ultimatum to withdraw from the government. The decision has not been taken yet but it will be in the short run rather than the long run.
"We put forward a programme to build a national unity government without sectarian and party divides. Now we see that things are taking a completely different shape," he said.
I was rather impressed by that interview. He spoke with knowledge of the situation, admitted there were mistakes by everyone, and not pointing the finger at one person. He also handled that interview with the presentor non-stop cutting in to trap him into a tricky situation. I think with the help of a strong army, tough politicians from the Sunni's and the Shia's, he can do a good job, not forever and ever, but long enough to ensure stablisation, and a stop to all this killing.
ORIGINAL: Calm I was rather impressed by that interview. He spoke with knowledge of the situation, admitted there were mistakes by everyone, and not pointing the finger at one person. He also handled that interview with the presentor non-stop cutting in to trap him into a tricky situation. I think with the help of a strong army, tough politicians from the Sunni's and the Shia's, he can do a good job, not forever and ever, but long enough to ensure stablisation, and a stop to all this killing.
I'm a fan of Alawi's and would very much like him to have another chance to lead the country. Of the current batch of politicians he's the only one who I can connect with as an Iraqi voter. He isn't afraid to speak his mind and this is what we need at the moment. All the solutions offered by him in the interview made perfect sense to me. I'd vote for him again if I had the chance.
i just want to say that this mr alawi seems to me like an intelkigent man but will iraqi people trust someone who came from outside iraq? i mean is there anyone who was in iraq all these years who can lead?
During saddam's (occupation) of iraq, many iraqis left the country for one reason or the other, and even then, saddam's puppets tried to kill them like they tried on Alawi. I do like the man, I like the way he speaks, I think he should be given a second chance.
Allawi leads drive to replace current Iraq administration by Liz Sly, 9 March 2007 - Chicago Tribune
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The secular former prime minister and U.S. favorite Ayad Allawi is leading a new push to replace the Shiite-led administration of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki with a broad-based government that would focus on restoring order. Amid deepening concerns among Sunnis and secularists about al-Maliki’s performance, Allawi has emerged at the center of an initiative to create a “national salvation front,” which his supporters say would be able to secure the backing of Iraqi insurgents, reunite the country and end the sectarian conflict that has prevailed for more than a year.
Though Allawi’s aides deny that he wants to replace al-Maliki as prime minister, Allawi is preparing to embark on a tour of the region to win the support of Arab governments for his proposals, just as representatives of Iraq’s neighbors are gathering with the U.S. in Baghdad for a regional conference intended to shore up support for the al-Maliki government. The idea of a new coalition to overturn the current political process is not new, and the front has yet to be fully formed.
But the effort has been given new momentum by the reappearance on the Iraqi political scene of Allawi, a high-profile U.S. ally who is both a Shiite and a centrist; the defection this week of the Fadhila Party, a small faction from al-Maliki’s ruling Shiite coalition, and a trip made by Allawi in the company of U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad to visit the Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani last weekend.
U.S. Embassy officials refused to say why Khalilzad accompanied Allawi on the trip to Kurdistan or what was discussed during the talks. But the Kurdistan visit was interpreted by many in Baghdad as a public display of support for Allawi by the U.S. It was also seen as a warning to al-Maliki that he cannot count on continued U.S. support if his Shiite-led government does not deliver on a range of promises intended to end the simmering sectarian conflict and bring about real reconciliation with Sunnis.
“You see Allawi meeting with Barzani and the U.S. ambassador is with Allawi, so people analyze this as meaning that the U.S. supports Allawi,” said Kurdish legislator Mahmoud Othman, who discussed the meeting with Barzani and does not believe the U.S. has made a decision to support the new front. “Maybe the U.S. is using this to put pressure on Maliki to deliver more, to remind him that there are alternatives,” Othman said.
Sunnis and secularists staunchly opposed to the Islamist Shiite parties now running the government have unsuccessfully tried to find ways to block Shiite rule since the December 2005 election, which gave Shiites a plurality, though not an outright majority, in the Iraqi parliament. For any new coalition to have a chance of outvoting the al-Maliki government in parliament, it would have to secure the backing of the Kurds, the second largest parliamentary bloc. The Kurds teamed up with the Shiite coalition to form a majority in the current government.
The Kurds are not prepared to abandon their Shiite partners for now, said Othman, which makes it difficult to see how Allawi can succeed in his efforts. The U.S. has also given no indication that it is considering abandoning al-Maliki. Addressing reporters at his first press conference on Thursday, Gen. David Petraeus, the new commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, expressed full confidence in al-Maliki, saying that he and his team are “striving to be leaders for all Iraqis and responsive to the desires of all Iraqis.”
The political maneuvering has nonetheless triggered rumors across Baghdad that a coup plot is being hatched, stirring fury among al-Maliki’s supporters. “If there is any conspiracy or plot against Maliki’s government, millions of people will take to the streets,” Shiite legislator Hassan Snaid, one of al-Maliki’s closest advisors, told Al-Hurra TV, in a reminder that the Shiite government enjoys the support of the vast majority of ordinary Shiites.
Supporters of the new front deny that they are conspiring to remove al-Maliki. They say they will only seek to replace him if he fails to fulfill a set of demands that includes the formation of a new government, an overhaul of the De-Baathification law, which prevents many former Baathists from returning to public life, and a review of the constitution. These are longstanding Sunni demands, backed by the U.S., that al-Maliki has repeatedly said he will address. They also include a revamp of his cabinet, which he has promised in the coming week. “Our problem is not with Mr. Maliki as a person. Our problem is with the system, which must be modified,” said Izzat Shahbandar, a parliamentarian from Allawi’s bloc who is closely involved in the new effort.
“The first step is for Mr. Maliki to make changes and if he doesn’t respond we are ready to form a parliamentary bloc that is big enough to remove the prime minister.”
As the U.S. dispatches extra troops to the streets of Baghdad to shore up al-Maliki’s government, the U.S. has also been quietly pressuring him to do more to reach out to Sunnis. Petraeus reiterated the view expressed by military commanders in the past that, ultimately, a resolution of the conflict in Iraq will require political reconciliation between the factions.
“That is what will determine in the long run the success of this effort. And again, that clearly has to include talking with and eventually reconciling differences with some of those who have felt that the new Iraq did not have a place for them,” he said.
“Prime Minister Maliki clearly believes that it does, and I think that his actions will demonstrate that,” Petraeus added.
The latest challenge to al-Maliki has the support of most members of the main parliamentary Sunni and secular blocs, and efforts are also underway to lure support away from the Shiite coalition, which controls 128 seats. Past efforts to split the United Iraqi Alliance have failed, though the small Fadhila Party, with 15 seats, announced it was leaving the coalition earlier this week. But with the Kurds in control of 53 seats, that still leaves the Allawi initiative far short of the 138 seats needed to bring about a parliamentary coup, however.
“I’m not optimistic that it will succeed,” said Othman, the Kurdish legislator. “I’d prefer a secular government, but the Shiites are sticking together and they’re a strong coalition.”
If things proceed then you'll see much jostling for positions amongst many of the political parties. Alawi seems to know something the rest don't and is making early preparations for Maliki's exit.
Iyad Allawi, the former Iraqi Prime Minister, is pushing for a return to power after assembling a parliamentary coalition of more than 80 seats.
The new bloc formed by the former Baathist, whose secular party enjoyed US support, is the first serious threat to Nouri al-Maliki’s Shia fundamentalist Government since it took office last May.
The former Prime Minister, who governed Iraq from June 2004 to April 2005, is presenting himself as a secular alternative to Mr Maliki and is promising to quell the sectarian bloodshed that has blighted Iraq since 2005.
Falah Naquib, a confidant of Dr Allawi and who was once interior minister, told The Times that if the movement took charge “I think Dr Allawi would be the prime minister”.
Dr Allawi, who has spent much of the past year in Britain, has reportedly been planning his return to power for months. Only last week did his attempt become serious when he formed an alliance with the 44-seat Sunni bloc Tawafuq.
The news comes after Mr al-Maliki’s Shia coalition suffered its first significant defection in two years. The 15-seat Shia Fadhila party walked out of the Government last week, whittling the Shia alliance’s numbers down to 113 seats. The movement, masterminded by the revered Shia religious figure, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has until now dominated Iraq’s political arena.
Dr Allawi’s bloc is courting Fadhila and the Kurds, whose 55 seats are key to obtaining a working majority in the 275-member parliament. “I think if Fadhila and the Kurds join we’ll have 140 seats,” Dr Naquib said. “We’ll form a government and save the country.”
Dr Naquib said that groups outside parliament were also being courted. It was possible that factions of the Sunni insurgency could be wooed if Dr Allawi formed his salvation government.
Asked about the possibility of joining the Allawi bloc, a Fadhila member Hasan al-Shimari told The Times: “Everything is possible in the future.”
The Kurds want guarantees that they will receive the disputed oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, an official working with Tawafuq said.
Dr Allawi visited Kurdistan a little over a week ago to meet the Kurdish president, Massoud al-Barzani, but failed to get him on board. A Kurdish official speaking on condition of anonymity said that Mr Barzani preferred to remain independent. Dr Naquib said that Mr Barzani wanted to join, but did not yet have backing from President Talabani, his fellow Kurdish leader.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador, visited Mr Barzani at the same time as Dr Allawi but the Embassy has said that it was a coincidence.
Sami al-Askari, a Shia MP close to Mr al-Maliki, said he doubted that Dr Allawi would be able to keep together such a far-reaching alliance. He pointed to internal tensions within the Sunni bloc and also in Dr Allawi’s 25-seat list, which is split among Allawi loyalists, independents and the Communist party. He also questioned the ability of Dr Allawi to keep a Shia fundamentalist party such as Fadhila in his coalition.
One Western diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity criticised Dr Allawi and said that he was not playing a positive role in Iraqi politics. Dr Allawi has spent most of the past year outside Iraq, mainly in London and Jordan, which he says was because of health problems.
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