US Vice President Joe Biden started a final push yesterday to persuade Iraq’s squabbling leaders to end their differences and form a government months after elections ushered in political deadlock.
Biden, on the third and final day of a visit to Baghdad, was to hold talks with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, after urging top politicians to “honor the trust” shown in them by Iraqi voters.
The US leader made his comments late on Sunday after meetings with the two men whose feud over who as prime minister should lead Iraq’s new government has stymied efforts to advance its fledgling democracy.
Biden stressed Washington had no “hidden agenda” over the outcome of the dispute, which has overshadowed a phased withdrawal of US combat troops after seven years of operations since the 2003 invasion that toppled former president Saddam Hussein.
He met first with Ayad Allawi, a former prime minister who narrowly beat incumbent prime minister Nouri al-Maliki into second place in the March 7 election.
At an evening reception after the talks, Biden appealed to the disputing leaders and other politicians to break the impasse.
“My plea to you is finish what you started,” Biden said in a speech that was quickly followed by several mortars landing in the Green Zone where the US embassy is based. “In my humble opinion, in order for you to achieve your goals you must have all communities’ voices represented in this new government, proportionately.”
“Iraqiya, State of Law, Iraqi National Alliance, the Kurdistan Alliance, all are going to have to play a meaningful role in this new government for it to work,” Biden said, referring to the country’s major political blocs.
Allawi, a Shiite, insists as the election’s narrow victor that he has the right to become prime minister, especially as his broadly secular Iraqiya coalition had strong backing in Sunni-dominated provinces.
He has also warned a failure to see Sunni voters’ properly represented in power could reignite the sectarian violence that saw tens of thousands killed.
Biden stressed real progress on hammering out a government could only be made if leaders put the national interest before all others.
“Subordinating individual interest is fundamental to the success of any nation,” he said. “You should not, and I am sure you will not, let any state, or the United States or any state in the region dictate what will become of you all.”
Biden’s remarks came just hours after the firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on Iraqi leaders not to be swayed by the US.
“I advise Allawi and Maliki not to allow the occupier to intervene,” said Sadr, whose militia, the Mehdi Army, has repeatedly clashed with US forces since the invasion.
“The talks should ensure the Iraqi agenda, not the American agenda,” the Iran-based cleric said in a statement issued from his office in the holy city of Najaf in central Iraq.
Several hundred of Sadr’s supporters held a protest in Kufa, also central Iraq, against Biden’s visit.
A senior US administration official traveling with Biden said the vice president had delivered a consistent message in his talks with Allawi and Maliki.
“We are not disengaging from Iraq, our engagement is changing. We are moving from a military lead to a civilian lead,” said the aide, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He [Biden] made it very clear that we have no candidates, we have no preferred outcomes. There was no discussion of an American plan for Iraq because there isn’t one.”
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS