Iraq PM game not over

Allawi still thinks he could run Iraq for Bush


The Angry Arab regularly refers to Allawi as, ``The brilliant Iraqi puppet prime minister/car bomber/embezzler-in-Yemen/former Saddam henchman"

The New York Times reports this afternoon that intense maneuvering is underway as current US-selected prime minister Ayad Allawi ``confirmed that he would form a coalition to challenge the victorious Shiite alliance and the doctor it has selected as its candidate [Ibrahim al-Jaafari] to become Iraq's prime minister."

Earlier today, the Times reported that Allawi has engaged in

protracted and rancorous negotiations with a coalition of secular leaders intent on sharply curtailing Dr. Jaafari's powers or blocking him and his clerical-backed coalition.

Ayad Allawi, the current prime minister, and Barham Salih, a Kurdish politician and deputy prime minister, said in separate interviews on Tuesday that without guarantees renouncing sectarianism and embracing Western democratic ideals they were poised to block Dr. Jaafari's nomination and possibly peel off enough members from the Shiite's United Iraqi Alliance to form a government of their own.

Meanwhile, Bush is in Europe decalring a "united front" against Iran, using denial of an Iranian nuclear weapon as a rallying cry. Hence it looks like the US is viewing the clear Iraqi electoral result of an Iran-sympathetic majority Shiite government with much more alarm than they are letting on. For now, the game will include an attempt to tie up and co-opt the Shiites, with any anti-democratic measures as may be necessary.

Juan Cole is skeptical of this tack, as ``The UIA [the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance] can prevent [Allawi] from succeeding even if only 94 of its 140 deputies stand firm."