US does not rush to embrace Allawi despite his CIA ties

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&ncid=1504&e=2&u=/afp/20040529/ts_afp/us_iraq_allawi_040529081742

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Top US officials sought to distance themselves from a decision by the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council to nominate Iyad Allawi as prime minister of a future interim government, saying the call belonged to UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.


While making clear that they followed with great interest deliberations within the council, the officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), made clear they believed it was up to Brahimi to select a government that will run Iraq (news - web sites) after the June 30 handover of power.


"I'm pleased that Mr. Allawi has that kind of support," Powell told foreign reporters here. "But we are working with Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi, the secretary general's representative, and he is the one we are waiting to hear from, not only with respect to the prime minister, but the president, the two vice presidents, as well as all of the cabinet ministers."


The surprise announcement in Baghdad seemed to preempt a decision by the UN special envoy engaged in delicate behind-the-scenes work of trying to piece together Iraq's first sovereign post-Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) government that will run the country from June 30 until a national election in six or seven months.

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[Cooley Hurd]

1. Josh Marshall's been all over the Allawi appointment...

Still the more confusion over Allawi

<snip>
How do we square these two stories?

Late Update: Not only does the center not hold. Dexter Filkins doesn't either. Here's the revised version of that graf from the Times story ...

The decision to name Dr. Allawi was made with the approval of Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy, though it was unclear how enthusiastic his support was. At United Nations headquarters in New York, officials contended that they were caught unawares by the announcement but said that they endorsed the choice.
So this was foisted on Brahimi, though he seems to have consented to it.

So whose idea was this? Where did the push come from? And who are the sources for the multiple conflicting stories?
</snip>

If Brahimi isn't 100% behind Allawi, then he won't have the legitimacy that he'll need to govern. And that picture of him laughing w/ Bremer won't do him any good, either...

[leftchick]

4. He won't fly with Iraqis even if Brahimi is 100% behind him....

I heard a very interesting segment on NPR last night about him. He is infamous in Iraq business circles as being extremely corrupt. He has relatives in place throughout those new US appointed Iraqi Ministies acting as middlemen for his various kickback schemes. The Iraqis know WTF is going on, it is the average americans that don't.

[Cooley Hurd]

8. You're right... after reading what Powell is saying...

...and hearing what a UN insider was saying on CNN this morning, there's no doubt that the Iraqis will reject him.

It doesn't help that he's been tied to the CIA, either.

[Cocoa]

5. I don't believe the NYT

I don't find Dexter Filkins credible, and I never believed John Burns. Judith Miller, don't get me started.

[salin]

7. Spencser Ackerman on tnr per naming Allawi

http://www.tnr.com/blog/iraqd?pid=1713

ZIPLESS COUP: There could be no better introduction to the premiership of Iyad Allawi than the confusion and intrigue surrounding its announcement. Early yesterday, the Governing Council declared it was unanimously backing Allawi, one of its own, for the post of interim Iraqi prime minister. Not that the Council is charged with that decision; that brief lies with U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who hadn't yet announced any replacement for Hussain Shahristani, a Brahimi-favored candidate who Shia Council members rejected. According to The Washington Post, right after the Council resolved to back Allawi, L. Paul Bremer burst in the room to offer U.S. support. The missing piece was the United Nations, which was completely outmaneuvered by the U.S.-Governing Council announcement. Fred Eckhard, a spokesman for Kofi Annan, acknowledged that Allawi was "high on list," but indicated that Brahimi was not happy with the push to install him. While Eckhard told reporters that Brahimi "respects" the Council's choice, he pointedly added that "respect" was a "carefully chosen word." Nevertheless, the U.N. essentially conceded the move, and pledged to work with the new prime minister-designate in forming an interim government.

That sort of deliberate, calculated confusion has been Allawi's calling card for his entire career. A Shia, he was nonetheless an enthusiastic Baathist in his youth, organizing Iraqi students for the party before the 1968 revolution and working in Europe as a functionary for the Baath afterward. Officially the head of the Iraqi Student Union in London, Allawi served as a handmaiden for Iraqi intelligence in the 1970s, bringing well-heeled Arab students to the attention of the Baath security apparatus. His intelligence work sharpened his key attributes: his ability to cultivate a variety of power players and his eagerness to play them off one another for his benefit. He struck up a relationship in London with MI6 that brought Baathist goons to his home toting knives and axes; he barely escaped with his life. Shortly after Saddam's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, he and another disenchanted Baathist formed the Iraqi National Accord (INA) under the auspices of Saudi intelligence. (The duo split because of an apparent inability to agree on who would get the lion's share of the kingdom's largesse.)

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[jpgray]

2. Are they trying to remove the onus of US support and approval?

Forgetting Chalabi's other problems, his status as the anointed genteel exile where the Pentagon was concerned probably didn't win him much support as far as ordinary Iraqis were concerned.

[SheilaT]

3. A friend told me

that Allawi was the one behind the claim that Saddam could have bio-chemical warhead missiles in the air in 45 minutes. If that's true, he's no better than Chalabi.

[creeksneakers2]

6. Allawi was the source of a story

that said Saddam had confessed to where he stashed $40 billion.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3354765.stm

[Devils Advocate NZ]

9. This is so blatant, even children would see through it easily!

I totally believe that the US had NOTHING to do with this appointment! :eyes:

Yeah right!

The Iraqi people won't fall for it. Hell, a child wouldn't fall for it!