|
Cia agent chosen as iraqi prime minister { May 28 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5290246http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5290246
Governing Body, U.S. Pick CIA Link Allawi as Iraqi PM
Fri May 28, 2004 01:11 PM ET
By Tom Perry
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iyad Allawi, a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party who then worked with the CIA to topple him, was chosen as prime minister of Iraq Friday.
Charged with taking over from the U.S. occupation authority on June 30 and leading his country to its first free elections next year, his nomination emerged from a unanimous consensus at a meeting of the 25 U.S. appointees on Iraq's Governing Council.
United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, whom Washington asked to help shape a new Iraqi government, welcomed the choice of the British-educated, Shi'ite neurologist through a spokesman.
It was unclear how far U.S. officials or Brahimi influenced the choice of a long-time exile known to few Iraqis and whom people in Baghdad said was an outsider they could not trust.
Brahimi and Iraq's U.S. governor Paul Bremer endorsed the nomination, Governing Council member Mahmoud Othman said: "We had a meeting with Bremer and Brahimi and they both agreed and congratulated him and were happy about it," Othman told Reuters.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said only that he was waiting to hear from Brahimi and made no mention of Allawi, who survived an assassination bid by Iraqi agents in London in 1978.
A secular Muslim from Iraq's long-oppressed majority Shi'ite community, Allawi will be joined on the 30-member team by Sunni Muslims, Kurds and representatives of Iraq's other minorities.
Brahimi is expected to announce a Sunni president, two vice presidents and 26 cabinet ministers over the next few days.
"Mr. Brahimi welcomes the decision to nominate Mr. Allawi," said Brahimi's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi, adding that the two would meet soon to discuss candidates for remaining government posts.
ELECTION CHALLENGE
Negotiations are going on in the U.N. Security Council over how much sovereign power the interim government will have. Some Iraqi leaders and countries like France and Russia are pushing to amend a U.S.-and British-sponsored resolution to strengthen the government's powers, notably over U.S.-led troops in Iraq.
The main challenge Allawi faces will be holding elections, due in January under the U.S. proposal; Iraq is riven with religious and ethnic tensions, has no tradition of democracy and is beset by violence from armed militias and urban guerrillas.
"I know nothing about him. He lived abroad as an exile. We need someone who lived here who can pull Iraq out of a crisis," said a Baghdad hotel manager, complaining of daily violence.
"Iraq is the same as it was in the time of Saddam Hussein except now I am afraid of militiamen so I can't say my name."
Five Iraqis were killed and 14 wounded in clashes between U.S. troops and Shi'ite militia around the holy city Najaf, a day after militant cleric Moqtada al-Sadr offered a truce to end two months of fighting. Two U.S. soldiers were also wounded.
But U.S. officials, clearly keen to calm the situation before handing over sovereignty, played down the incidents and said they were still hopeful the cease-fire would hold.
Two Japanese journalists were killed in an attack on their car Thursday at a well-known danger spot south of Baghdad, said doctors who displayed two incinerated bodies. A top Iraqi politician survived an attack in the same area on the same day.
SADDAM SURVIVOR
Allawi is related to Ahmad Chalabi, the former Pentagon favorite now out of favor who was once seen as Washington's first choice to lead Iraq. The two are not regarded as close. Allawi's cousin Ali Allawi is the present defense minister.
Allawi, born in 1945, is also a wealthy businessman. Having spent many years abroad he turned against Saddam. In 1990 he formed the Iraqi National Accord, a party backed by the CIA and British intelligence and including many disillusioned former Baathists.
Iraqi secret police were sent to assassinate him at home in the London suburb of Kingston in 1978 when he struck up a relationship with the British secret service, according to a book by Iraq specialists Andrew and Patrick Cockburn.
Axe-wielding Saddam agents burst into his bedroom as he and his wife slept but fled when his father-in-law appeared.
Sadr's supporters accused the Americans of a breach of faith in setting up roadblocks that forced their leader to lie low and miss his weekly Friday sermon at Kufa, just outside Najaf, where thousands of loyal followers had flocked to hear him speak.
Aides said Sadr had stayed away for fear of being captured.
Amid the clashes, his Mehdi Army fighters returned in force to the streets of Najaf and fired on a rival Shi'ite cleric.
U.S. troops had suspended offensive operations after Shi'ite elders persuaded Sadr to offer a truce to end an uprising which has cost hundreds of lives. But U.S. officials have refused to drop demands for Sadr's arrest on a murder charge.
U.S. military spokesman Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said of the fighting: "These would appear to be violations of that agreement that he signed...We can't really tell you if these are characteristic of a larger group splitting away from Moqtada or if it's just some of the groups that haven't got the word.
"We are generally sanguine...It could take a couple of days before the true cease-fire that he offered holds."
Sadr told Arabic television Al Jazeera in Najaf that he would abide by the cease-fire in Najaf but warned that his militia would fight "to the last drop of blood" if U.S. forces encroached on holy sites.
"God willing, no matter how many forces the enemy has, we will continue to resist this crusader campaign against Islam and we will stand until the last drop of blood in our bodies to defend these holy sites and this blessed land," Sadr said.
(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Najaf)
|
|
