Last week the squabbling politicians of Iraq settled upon a prime minister to replace the unsatisfactory al-Jaafari. And hopes are high that he can get a cabinet together in the next couple of weeks. But who is Jawad al-Maliki?
Iranian journalist Amir Taheri gives us a first look. Is he an “apparatchik” of the al-Dawa Party? Or is he a long-time freedom fighter against Saddam Hussein’s regime? More to the point, can he serve as an effective prime minister? On the one hand, writes Taheri,
Where al-Jaafari is a charismatic figure and a powerful orator, al-Maliki is a more cerebral leader - and no crowd-pleaser. In Iraqi politics today, that may be a disadvantage.
On the other hand:
But al-Maliki has several advantages - starting with his discipline and capacity for hard work, something al-Jaafari singularly lacked. Plus, he has developed close ties with secular Shiite leaders and groups, again something that al-Jaafari never achieved. Last but not least: The Kurds and Arab Sunnis, who together account for more than 40 percent of the population, see al-Maliki as someone they can work with - another contrast with al-Jaafari.
So the answer is: we don’t know. Meanwhile, Taheri writes, the government has two urgent tasks, to push through an emergency economic plan and to negotiate a future relationship with the Coalition occupying forces after the current UN mandate expires in December.
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