The shy family doctor who emerged on Tuesday as the most likely candidate to become Iraq's first democratically-elected prime minister says he would make ending the nation's rampant violence his top priority and US troops would remain as long as they were needed to achieve that goal.
In an exclusive Associated Press interview, the moderate Shiite politician, who fled a brutal crackdown by Saddam Hussein in 1980, talked about drafting a constitution that will draw not only on Islam for inspiration.
"Islam should be the official religion of the country, and one of the main sources for legislation, along with other sources that do not harm Muslim sensibilities," he said.
Al-Jaafari, who lived in London and is the leader of the Dawa Party, emerged as the top contender for the prime minister's job on Tuesday after his main rival, Adel Abdul Mahdi, dropped out. Ahmad Chalabi, a former Pentagon favorite, was still in the running, but was considered by many to be a long shot.
In Sunday's results, the United Iraqi Alliance scooped 48 percent of the vote for the National Assembly, the Kurdish alliance took 26 percent and Allawi, a secular Shiite, won only 14 percent. That could make the Kurds the king makers in the new Iraq.
The provisional results have yet to be certified by the election commission pending challenges. Once the results are certified, the present government must set a timetable for installing the new government, a process that could take weeks.
Al-Jaafari, 58, acknowledged that recent deals reached between Iraq's religious parties pointed toward his victory.
"I hear from here and there, but I can't tell to what extent it is a consensus," he said, wearing a blue suit and a neatly trimmed gray beard.
Al-Jaafari said that if he is confirmed as prime minister, he would first try to stymie the violence that has crippled the nation's recovery from decades of war and hardship.
"The security situation is at the top, as it is a pressing element," al-Jaafari said. He also said he would not push for the US and its allies to withdraw their troops from Iraq any time soon.
"Blood is being spilled and the land is under attack," he said. "How about if we decided to get these troops out of Iraq?" he said, suggesting that the situation would be much worse than it is now.
But al-Jaafar has kept some distance from the US occupation.
He boycotted a US-organized meeting of Iraqi politicians near the biblical city of Ur in April 2003. While he served on the Governing Council appointed by the US government shortly after the invasion, he turned down the Americans' offer of protection. But he did serve on the council and became vice president of the interim government that replaced it.
Speaking from his home in the US guarded Green Zone in central Baghdad, he said he shares the Kurdish and Shiite desire for federalism in Iraq.
"I am looking for a constitution that would be a clear mirror of the composition of the Iraq people," he said. It should be "based on respecting all Iraqi beliefs and freedoms."
But he was clear that he opposed any attempts to break Iraq apart, following a non-binding referendum in the Kurdistan region promoting independence.
"Federalism doesn't mean separation from the nation state," he said.
Even though he leads the Dawa Party, which is part of the clergy-endorsed United Iraqi Alliance, his views contrasted with the official platform on the party's Web site.
The party urges for the "Islamization" of the Iraqi society and the state, including the implementation of Sharia, or Islamic law.
He dismissed the apparent contradiction, saying only, "theory is different from practice."
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS