ROVING
IN THE RED ZONE Back to 'Saddam
without a mustache' By Pepe
Escobar
BAGHDAD - From secular,
well-educated Shi'ites to in-love-with-the-West
Kurds, from Christians suffering ethnic cleansing
to even some moderate Sunnis, Iraqis terrified by
the current carnage are more and more inclined to
turn to former premier Iyad Allawi as the only
possible solution.
"We need a strongman,"
said Hamoodi, a young Kurd from Sulaymaniah who
got his visa approved and will continue his
medicine studies in the US
state of Michigan; he does not plan on coming
back. There's a virtual consensus among people in
Baghdad that security under Allawi's interim
premiership was relatively good, deteriorated
under Ibrahim al-Jaafari and reached nightmarish
levels under the present administration of Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Allawi used to be
referred to in Baghdad as "Saddam without a
mustache". The ex-Ba'athist and former darling of
US and British intelligence also became "the
butcher of Fallujah" after ordering the massive
assault on the Sunni resistance stronghold in
November 2004. Not to mention his push against
Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's followers in
Najaf, also in 2004. But the civil war has
enhanced his popular perception as non-sectarian.
The true measure of the overwhelming Iraqi tragedy
is that people in Baghdad are now yearning for an
ersatz Saddam Hussein.
There have been
insistent rumors in Baghdad of a US-inspired
"white coup" in Parliament to finish off Maliki's
ineffective government and install Allawi as the
new prime minister. To this end Allawi is even
talking to the Sadrists. Ibtisan al-Awadi, a
former member of Parliament for the Iraqi List,
which has four ministers, is the negotiator in
charge.
The development is quite
surprising, considering the extremely strained
relationship between Allawi and Muqtada because of
the attack on Najaf. But the fact is nobody at the
moment - except for the Supreme Council for the
Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and the Da'wa
Party - seems to be supporting Maliki. Popular
perception in Baghdad among educated urban
Shi'ites also rules that politicians from Da'wa
are generally well educated, but those from SCIRI
are mostly appalling.
Azat al-Shabander is
Allawi's spokesman. He told Asia Times Online, "We
have good relations with all the political parties
against the government. There are also a great
deal of armed groups who have abandoned their
weapons and prefer peace. We are in favor of no
loyalty to Iran. This is the big difference
between us and the governments of Jaafari and
Maliki."
As things stand, Shabander likes
to emphasize that "the US supports Maliki.
[President George W] Bush has said it many times.
This is clear." But Shabander also made a point
that "the US did not privilege anybody during
these four years, nor interfered". What would make
Allawi a better prime minister than Maliki? "He is
known as the director of a national, and not
confessional, project. This puts him in a very
comfortable position."
Allawi, said
Shabander, "Strongly condemns the Shi'ite
political parties who suffer interference from
Iran. True Iraqi Shi'ites don't accept this
intervention." He said Allawi has "good relations"
with Saudi Arabia, although is always vigilant
because "sometimes they [Saudis] support religious
parties here with a lot of money". This an oblique
reference to Wahhabi support for the Sunni Arab
resistance.
Allawi has been to Saudi
Arabia building alliances - unlike Maliki, who has
been snubbed by King Abdullah. Allawi travels as
much as most Iraqi politicians, who spend most of
their time in Cairo, Amman, Damascus or, for that
matter, London. Not bad for a hefty
US$15,000-a-month salary. During recent
festivities, members of Parliament received
"gifts" to the tune of almost $60,000 each.
Shabander sounded like an Israeli
politician when he argued Allawi's point for
defending the Adhamiyah wall that is being built
by US forces to separate Sunnis and Shi'ites.
"This is not a wall; it's a partition barrier that
the security forces find useful for controlling
who enters and who exits a dangerous zone. It's
not an isolated wall. People who are against the
wall are just blowing it out of proportion." This
"against the wall" crowd happens to include the
population of Adhamiyah itself.
Shabander
stressed that Allawi "hopes the US establishes
good relations with all other countries in the
region to the benefit of Iraq" - a message that
obviously concerns US-Iran relations.
A
new non-sectarian coalition may be emerging in
Iraq against the current Shi'ite/Kurd majority
government, and that coalition might be led by
Allawi. As Shabander never tires to point out, "We
have cooperation with all national groups."
"Saddam without a mustache" is convinced
he's the right man for the intractable job. So is
Washington.
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