re: Dude, do you have any reason to believe that Iraqis want to subjugate themselves to Iran?
Don't "Dude" me.
Jaafari, the probable Iraq prime minter spent 8 years in Iran, and is the leader of the Dawa party. "Subjugate" isn't the right word... an Iran style theocracy is a better description. Likely that when this finally plays our, Iran and Iraq will be best friends, and the US will be their common enemy.
Ibrahim al-Jaafari
Ibrahim al-JaafariDr. Ibrahim al-Ashaiqir al-Jaafari (Arabic: ??????? ??????? ???????) (born 1947) is the new Prime Minister of Iraq in the Iraqi Transitional Government following the elections of January 2005. He is a Shiite and was previously one of the two vice-presidents of Iraq under the Iraqi Interim Government in 2004, and the main spokesman for the Islamic Dawa Party in Iraq.
He was born Ibrahim al-Ashaiqir (??????? ???????) in Karbala and was educated at Mosul university as a medical doctor. He joined the Islamic Dawa Party in 1968. Upon graduation from school in 1974 he worked actively for the party in Iraq until the Ba'athist government began a violent crackdown on the group. He left for Iran in 1980 and became involved in the anti-Saddam movement there. He moved to London in 1989 where he became the al-Dawa spokesman in the UK and an important participant in the wider anti-Saddam movement. While in the UK he attended many Iraqi Events giving religious sermons. He also gave sermons during the month of Ramadan at certain people's houses, free of charge.
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq he quickly returned to the country. He was picked in July 2003 as member of the U.S.-backed Iraq Interim Governing Council, and served as its first chairman and Iraq's first post-Saddam interim president for one month. On 1 June 2004, he was selected to be one of the two vice-presidents in the new Iraqi government.
He brought al-Dawa into the United Iraqi Alliance coalition of Shi'ite parties and was second on the party's list after SCIRI leader Abdel-Aziz Hakim.
Following the January 2005 Iraqi elections the strength of the UIA in the parliament made him a likely candidate to become the nation's new Prime Minister. Only Ahmed Chalabi challenged him for the position. Chalabi later dropped out of the race, being less than a favourite for a majority of the parties in the UIA, partly tainted by his former relationship with the US, thus leaving al-Jaafari unchallenged to become the alliance's candidate for the post. He was designated as Prime Minister on 7 April 2005, following the election of a Presidency Council the day before. After a long period of negotiations aimed at establishing a broad-based government, he and his cabinet were finally approved by the National Assembly of Iraq on 28 April.
Following the national elections in December 2005, along with Adel-Abdul-Mahdi of SCIRI, Al-Jaafari was the main contender for prime minister. The UIA, to whom Al-Jaafari and Abdul-Mahdi both belong, is still in the process of choosing its candidate for prime minister.
In opinion polls since the invasion, al-Jafaari, known for his high intellect, eloquence and oratory, has fairly consistently had the highest approval ratings of any politician, and the highest of any public figure after Ali al-Sistani and Moqtada al-Sadr, and al-Dawa has been, by far, the most popular political party. This is in part due to his long history of opposition to the Baath party, and a real perception among most Iraqis that he is a very decent, caring and incorruptible politician. |
