Saturday, May 29, 2004
We Stumble Forward
The last two days have brought confusing news, and yet there may be daylight ahead. The agreement with the sadrists in Najaf and Kufa does not seem as secure as yesterday, particularly in Kufa. Of course, both sides blame the other for continued violence. But for now no one says the pause is over. On the road between Mahmudiya and Iskanderiya (south of Baghdad) more people are killed, this time Japanese. This Sunni area seems to remain uncontrolled. Clearly as we make agreements elsewhere we should shift more forces here for it is a major artery.
Progress continues on the membership of the "Interim Government" that will replace the present "Governing Council". The latter had felt shut out of the process, but it may now have taken it over. As of today the new premier is to be Iyad Alawi, a secular shi'a who is presently a member of the Governing Council. He is also a leader of one of the two groups that the United States had worked closely together with in its planning the Iraq adventure. (The other group was led by Chalabi, the favorite of another branch of the American government. He is now said to be an opponent of Alawi.) Alawi is a former Baathist who led an attempted revolt against the government in the 1990s. He believes that former Baathists and former generals should have a larger role in the new Iraq. He apparently is a good politician and this choice may work out. It seemed to me the Times did a disservice in emphasizing in several discussions his former closeness to the CIA. After all, anyone who was an enemy of Saddam and wanted change in Iraq in the nineties would have found it difficult not to work with the CIA. This should not condemn him.
The last two days have brought confusing news, and yet there may be daylight ahead. The agreement with the sadrists in Najaf and Kufa does not seem as secure as yesterday, particularly in Kufa. Of course, both sides blame the other for continued violence. But for now no one says the pause is over. On the road between Mahmudiya and Iskanderiya (south of Baghdad) more people are killed, this time Japanese. This Sunni area seems to remain uncontrolled. Clearly as we make agreements elsewhere we should shift more forces here for it is a major artery.
Progress continues on the membership of the "Interim Government" that will replace the present "Governing Council". The latter had felt shut out of the process, but it may now have taken it over. As of today the new premier is to be Iyad Alawi, a secular shi'a who is presently a member of the Governing Council. He is also a leader of one of the two groups that the United States had worked closely together with in its planning the Iraq adventure. (The other group was led by Chalabi, the favorite of another branch of the American government. He is now said to be an opponent of Alawi.) Alawi is a former Baathist who led an attempted revolt against the government in the 1990s. He believes that former Baathists and former generals should have a larger role in the new Iraq. He apparently is a good politician and this choice may work out. It seemed to me the Times did a disservice in emphasizing in several discussions his former closeness to the CIA. After all, anyone who was an enemy of Saddam and wanted change in Iraq in the nineties would have found it difficult not to work with the CIA. This should not condemn him.
Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
