Iraq: Democracy in question: New selection of Prime Minister ends season of keen disappointment in the West, hopefully
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Iraq has severely disappointed - in my case, hurt - many of its supporters, many of us who supported the risk of life and limb to American and allied forces there. The outrageous delays since the election in forming a government and thereby effectively allowing the intransigent Sunnis and foreign terrorists on one side, and the renegade Shi'ite militias like that of Moqtada Sadr together with the Iranian infiltrators crossing over the border: all this, plus the unresolved status of Christians (and other minority religions), and the status of women left hanging in jeopardy, all this and much more has left us discouraged and doubtful about the chances of any new government to pull the pieces together, establishing a stable civil order.
The President of the USA tries to rally us and to call upon us to help maintain the morale of the troops offering their very lives in that grim land of the Tigris and the Euphrates. So, for now, there's no thawt of breaking ranks; we Christians who accept possible use of the instruments of war, must indeed follow thru on the neo-Costantintian principle of continuing the deployment of the state power's armed force to stop the otherwise triumphant terrorists, whatever their religious claims. So be it.
But the ability of the Iraqi democracy to make timely decisions simply to put the proper processes in place, like determining a prime minister and choosing a cabinet is all in question now. There will be a probation period in which many of us will monitor the good faith of the Iraqi legislators. If they don't shape up as a functioning parliament, government, and cabinet: there simply will be consequences, sad to say. There's nothing infinite or eternal about American and Western willingness to keep an adolescent Iraq afloat when their elected leaders can't even agree on the basics of governing democratically. - Politicarp
Well, who is this new Prime Minster of the Government of Iraq? According to Sabrina Tavernise [New York Times and Seattle Times (Apr23,2k6)], and recording my quick Hat Tip to Mary Katherine Ham at Hugh Hewitt blog (click live-lined Blog-entry title above) for several sources:
Jawad al-Maliki, the Shiite politician selected Saturday to be Iraq's first permanent prime minister, is decisive and direct and known for speaking his mind, but he has little experience in governing, Iraqi political leaders said.That's putting a supportive spin on who and what we all must live with, a man with no experience in governing, some experience is legislative work, and perhaps a lot of good ideas and lots of determination. Beyond that we can't really say much, especially since we (at least, I) had a big illusion punctured when the Iraqui parliamentarians dawdled without a Prime Minister nor a Cabinet for what seemed an eternity.
Al-Maliki, 55, appeared stiff and nervous as he spoke for the first time after his nomination by Shiite political parties on Saturday morning. Flanked by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, Iraq's most powerful Shiite politician, as well as Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the interim prime minister, he tersely addressed the Sunni fears that he would be too Shiite for the job.
"Those who take responsibility in the new government will be representing the people, not their parties," he said. "These are the general conditions that have to be taken into consideration by the prime minister and his government."
Al-Maliki has not held a formal role in the Iraqi government since the American invasion, but his lack of experience in the executive branch might be one of his biggest strengths, some colleagues said.
"He doesn't have a lot of baggage behind him," said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national-security adviser and a friend of al-Maliki's. Al-Maliki comes from a middle class Shiite family in the south of Iraq.
But there's more to reporter Mary Katherine Ham's round-up on this story. If you've got the time and interest, don't neglect these of her further offerings:
Los Angeles Times
Rick Jervis in USAToday
Iraq the Model blog
Bill Putnam, An Independent Look at Iraq blog
Mark Kilmer, RedState
After leaning so much on Mary Katherine Ham for all the above sources, I tried to find additionally some Canadian news information or editorials on the gentleman in question. For possible stories on Jawad al-Maliki, I googled both Globe & Mail and Toronto Star, but got nothing. Then. I went to both newspapers' sites to use their internal search engines, and got nothing. I went back to Google and searched its general news section, with a few intersting results in Italian and Spanish (Latin American Press) - for refWrite's immediate purposes, that's next to nothing. I have also had a technical dickens of a time getting the Blog-entry properly posted over 3 days. - Politicarp
Update: Rumsfeld arrives in Baghdad to inquire about "extinguishing insurgency."
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