Abandoned by his fellow Shiites, Iraq’s prime minister must turn to new allies and work twice as hard to form a broad-based alliance if he is to keep his job after January’s parliamentary elections.
Just over a week ago, all Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had to do was to hold steady until voting day. With violence down to record lows, his political rivals in disarray and his image as a nonsectarian leader taking root, he was virtually assured of another four years at the helm.
But then suicide truck bombings on Aug. 19 devastated the foreign and finance ministries, killing about 100 people and dealing a major blow to confidence in the country’s security forces. Iraq’s media called it “Bloody Wednesday.”
The bombings, which followed several other high-profile attacks after the June 30 withdrawal of US forces from urban areas, eroded the prime minister’s biggest asset — improved security.
Al-Maliki’s one-time Shiite allies dumped him on Monday from a new coalition they formed to contest the Jan. 16 vote, a move that will likely put pressure on the prime minister to turn to Sunnis for support.
Whether al-Maliki can recover in time and secure his job after the January vote is a question that has ramifications that go beyond Iraqi politics.
The US sees in al-Maliki a reliable if somewhat too nationalist and independent-minded ally who has friendly ties with the Iranians but keeps them at a safe distance. Those poised to possibly take his place have stronger links to Tehran and could take a less friendly stance toward the US, who still maintain some 130,000 troops in the country.
The US military plans to withdraw all its forces by the end of 2011, leaving behind a vacuum many fear the Iranians would be eager to fill.
Leaders of the new Iraqi National Alliance said al-Maliki stayed out because of differences over leadership and other issues but that the door was open for him to join later.
That’s highly unlikely. Such a decision would almost certainly be seen as a sign of weakness and could undermine al-Maliki enough that he would lose his job anyway.
“No one in the Shiite parties of the new alliance is ready to make concessions to him,” said Iraqi political analyst Nabil Salim, alluding to al-Maliki’s widely reported demand that he would join on condition that he was guaranteed the prime minister’s job after the elections.
The new bloc is led by the largest Shiite party, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, and a bloc loyal to anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Both have close ties to Tehran. The bloc also includes small Sunni and secular groups.
It replaces a Shiite alliance that won the last election in December 2005, dominating the 275-seat legislature and securing al-Maliki the prime minister’s job.
Al-Maliki has yet to comment publicly on the new bloc, but a close aide, Hassan al-Sineid, said the prime minister remained committed to the creation of a broad-based, national alliance.
Cobbling together an alliance to lead into the elections will not be difficult, but the real test is whether the bloc would be strong enough to lure voters in the mainly Shiite south of Iraq and to get on board credible Sunni leaders with a real popular base.
The tough part, though, is whether al-Maliki can do enough to reassure Iraqis that he is the leader they should vote for if they want to see their No. 1 wish — security — come true.
That said, more bloodshed could kill al-Maliki’s chances altogether of returning as prime minister.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of