Jafaari to stay as Iraqi PM

So, I may be the only one, but I think this is certainly an interesting step. Damned if I know what it means, but I think it's worth following.

A couple days ago, the U.S. ambassador in Iraq passed along a message from Mr. Bush to the Iraqi PM, Ibraham Jaafari. The message was pretty simple:

Mr. Khalilzad said Mr. Bush "doesn't want, doesn't support, doesn't accept" Mr. Jaafari as the next prime minister, according to Mr. Taki, a senior aide to Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Shiite bloc. It was the first "clear and direct message" from the Americans on a specific candidate for prime minister, Mr. Taki said.

Jaafari has become a very controversial name, both among the Kurds and the Sunni population in Iraq. As the current PM, he's overseen the development of the death squads which permeate the Iraqi army, watched security continue to worsen, and generally helped make things worse. But his party won the plurality of the votes in the last election, and they've nominated him again.

So, Mr. Bush seems to have decided to personally attempt to intervene in the formation of the Iraqi government in a way which may further alienate the Shi'a population which is already angry over the mess of a raid last weekend and the golden Mosque bombing.

And at least thus far, Mr. Jaafari is defying Bush's request to withdraw his nomination.

"There was a stand from both the American government and President Bush to promote a democratic policy and protect its interests," he said, sipping from a cup of boiled water mixed with saffron. "But now there's concern among the Iraqi people that the democratic process is being threatened."

 

"The source of this is that some American figures have made statements that interfere with the results of the democratic process," he added. "These reservations began when the biggest bloc in Parliament chose its candidate for prime minister."