Iraq’s Failure to Appoint a New Prime Minister Will Delay Eviction of US Forces
Acting PM resigns even as the PM-designate fails to secure votes, withdraws candidacy
Over the weekend, Iraq’s PM-designate Mohammed Allawi withdrew his candidacy, facing an inability to get parliament votes to allow him to form a cabinet. Acting PM Adel Abdul Mahdi is now following, with a Monday resignation.
Abdul Mahdi was the previous prime minister, and resigned months ago in the face of anti-government protests. He stayed on as an acting premier, pending the appointment of a replacement.
With little chance of a new government forming soon, Abdul Mahdi has confirmed his resignation, and is now calling on the government to hold early elections as soon as possible.
Iraq is in a tough position in that regard. Getting to early elections likely requires electoral law reforms, and another PM-designate to oversee matters. The protesters are likely to reject almost anyone, particularly after Allawi was offered. That could mean further dragging out the process.
Source: Antiwar.com
Elected Prime Minister Mohammad Allawi has fallen due to the lack of a parliamentary quorum. The selection of his new cabinet, his mismanagement in dealing with various political parties, and his condescending attitude particularly towards Sunnis and Kurds brought him the support of only 108 MPs in Parliament last Sunday. He needed 165 out of 329 MPs.
Allawi’s biggest mistake was in counting on the support of Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr, who had nominated him in the first place. Moqtada’s support made Allawi overconfident; he failed to engage with other political parties, thinking Moqtada’s support would be enough for him to govern. Sayyed Moqtada was indeed given the leadership of the Iraqi groups following the US drone assassination of Iranian brigadier general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes and their companions. The Iranian and Iraqi leaderships acknowledged Moqtada’s leadership at that moment in order to unite the Shia of Iraq. It was Moqtada who selected Allawi, and most Shia groups accepted the choice at the time.
Hundreds of Thousands March Against US Presence in Iraq in Largest Protest Baghdad Has Ever Seen
If only Saddam Hussein were still be alive! Him no angle for sure, but the entire region was fairly well at peace without buildings turned into piles and piles of rubble.
You can be sure that the State Department and the CIA are working overtime to promote a chaotic political situation, using all the traditional tools of threats and promises and pay-offs.
They do not want to leave Iraq, but can openly oppose an elected government’s demands for only so long.
This works out nicely for them.
And who cares if this unfortunate country wallows, unable to get anything done, nearly twenty years after a brutal invasion? No one in Washington, for sure.
unsurprising—if a leader is agreed upon he will be assassinated by the CIA; Iraqis certainly recalled that the CIA killed, Sadaam, Qadaffi, Allende Rodol Trujillo numerous African leaders, tried to murder Arbenz, Fidel, Peron, Chavez, Morales, Assad, etc—-of course amerikans most identify w fascists in Saudi Arabia, military dictatorships like the USA…Colombia, El Salvador, Taiwan,etc