Baath Party Pushes For Allawi To Replace Maliki
Time:
The spokesman, known only as Abu Hala, said the Baath leadership under Saddam’s deputy, Izzat al-Douri, were “more than willing to work with Allawi, because we see him as a nationalist and Iraqi patriot, and not a sectarian figure.” He said the party didn’t agree with all of Allawi’s policies when he headed a transitional Iraqi government in 2004, but “we have no doubt that he would represent the interests of Iraq, not of Shi’ites or Sunnis or any other group.”
Abu Hala said the Baath leadership has had several meetings with Allawi, and “we found him open-minded and fair.” Allawi has previously told TIME that he has for some time had channels open to exiled Baath leaders, many of whom live in Jordan and Syria. Allawi has criticized the government of current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for its de-Baathification policies, saying they hurt many blameless Iraqis. But he has never called for the party’s return to Iraq’s political stage.
A former member of the party himself, Allawi broke with Saddam Hussein in 1975 and lived in exile in London. He survived an assassination attempt by Baath agents in 1978. But since his return to Iraq after the fall of Saddam, he has consistently argued that the entire party membership should not be criminalized. Many Iraqis joined the Baath under duress, or because it was the only way to get jobs or advance careers.
In recent months, Allawi has mounted a campaign to return to power, seeking a new parliamentary alliance of secular, Sunni and Kurdish parties to offset the strength of the dominant Shi’ite coalition behind Maliki. A powerful Washington public-relations firm has also begun to aggressively lobby Senators and Congressmen to back Allawi.
The endorsement from the Baath leadership is a mixed blessing. It may buy Allawi some goodwill with Sunnis, the main beneficiaries of Saddam’s rule. A Shi’ite himself, Allawi antagonized Sunnis when he signed off on the massive American military offensive on Fallujah in the fall of 2004.
But the Baathist backing will have the opposite effect on his fellow Shi’ites, especially for the Islamist coalition that is the largest block in the Iraqi parliament, and on Kurdish parties that comprise the second-largest block. Shi’ites and Kurds bore the brunt of Saddam’s repression and regard the Baath leadership as mass murderers. Many members of Allawi’s own secular coalition regard the Baath as anathema.
What�s more, the American politicians Allawi is courting will likely find it uncomfortable to be on the same side as Saddam’s old party.
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I like Allawi better than Maliki, whom I consider to be a useless empty briefcase. However, Maliki is the peopl’s choice for now. Let the people make the choice as to whether Maliki or Allawi is the better President.
August 31st, 2007 at 10:16 amI’m fine with this, de-baathification was too extreme and it alienated a lot of potential allies when we first arrived.
August 31st, 2007 at 11:45 amEvery body want to rule the world, — heard that in a song, so Chalabie’s nephew is pushing for his turn, big mistake, after all this we should start back where we were in 2002
I hope the lights come on.
August 31st, 2007 at 12:00 pmI also like that in the Pic he is heavily protected, probably so his own wife won’t shoot him
August 31st, 2007 at 12:35 pmIf the Baath takes a bath it could be not unlike the blue-dogs replacing most within the democrat party.
September 1st, 2007 at 1:40 am