Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_biscuit who wrote (579323)	5/28/2004 5:04:47 PM
From: nolimitz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Saddam II? CIA-Linked Former Exile Picked as Iraqi Premier? By Tom Perry BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iyad Allawi, a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party who worked with the CIA to topple him, was chosen as prime minister of Iraq Friday. Allawi To Be Iraqi PM Charged with taking over from U.S.-led occupation authorities on June 30 and leading his country to its first free elections next year, Allawi's nomination emerged by consensus at a meeting of the 25 U.S. appointees on Iraq's Governing Council. The United Nations, called in by Washington to help shape the new interim government, was caught off guard when the Governing Council announced Allawi had been chosen, but said it respected the decision. "It's not how we expected it to happen," chief U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York. "(U.N. envoy Lakhdar) Brahimi respects the decision and is prepared to work with this person on the selection of the other posts in this interim government," said Eckhard. An official in President Bush (news - web sites)'s administration said: "We thought (Allawi) would be an excellent prime minister. ... I think that this is going to work." NEUROLOGIST AND BUSINESSMAN A secular neurologist and businessman from Iraq's long-oppressed majority Shi'ite community, Allawi will be joined in the 30-member interim government by Sunni Muslims, Kurds and representatives of Iraq's other minorities. Brahimi had been expected to announce a Sunni president, two vice presidents and 26 cabinet ministers over the next few days, but officials suggested a May 31 deadline may be missed. Negotiations are going on in the U.N. Security Council over how much sovereign power the interim government will have. Some Iraqi leaders and countries like France and Russia are pushing to amend a U.S.-and British-sponsored resolution to strengthen the interim government's powers, notably over U.S.-led forces in Iraq. The main challenge Allawi faces will be holding elections due in January as Iraq is riven with religious and ethnic tensions, has no tradition of democracy and is beset by violence from armed militias and guerrillas. "I know nothing about him. He lived abroad as an exile. We need someone who lived here who can pull Iraq out of a crisis," said a Baghdad hotel manager, complaining of daily violence. "Iraq is the same as it was in the time of Saddam Hussein, except now I am afraid of militiamen so I can't say my name." Allawi is related to Ahmad Chalabi, the former Pentagon (news - web sites) favorite to lead Iraq who is now at odds with Washington. The two are not regarded as close. Allawi's cousin Ali Allawi is the present defense minister. CIA BACKING Allawi, born in 1945, spent many years abroad after turning against Saddam. In 1990 he formed the Iraqi National Accord, a party backed by the CIA and British intelligence. Iraqi secret police were sent to assassinate him at his home in the London suburb of Kingston in 1978 when he struck up a relationship with the British secret service, according to a book by Iraq specialists Andrew and Patrick Cockburn. Axe-wielding Saddam agents burst into his bedroom as he and his wife slept but fled when his father-in-law appeared. As the June 30 formal handover of sovereignty approaches, U.S.-led occupation authorities have tried to quell Sunni and Shi'ite uprisings by reaching peace deals in flashpoint cities. Five Iraqis were killed and 14 wounded in clashes Friday between U.S. troops and Shi'ite militiamen loyal to rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr around the southern holy city of Najaf. Two U.S. soldiers were also wounded. Thursday, the U.S. military announced a suspension of offensive operations against Sadr's militiamen in Najaf after he offered a truce. U.S. officials, keen to calm the situation before handing over sovereignty, played down the clashes and said they were hopeful the cease-fire would hold. U.S. FORCES "SANGUINE" "We are generally sanguine," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the U.S. army in Iraq, told a news conference in Baghdad. "It could take a couple of days before the true cease-fire that he offered holds." Sadr's supporters accused the Americans of a breach of faith in setting up roadblocks that forced their leader to lie low and miss his weekly Friday sermon at Kufa, just outside Najaf, where thousands of loyal followers had flocked to hear him speak. Aides said Sadr, wanted by U.S.-led forces in connection with the murder of another cleric, had stayed away for fear of being captured. Amid the clashes, his Mehdi Army fighters returned in force to the streets of Najaf and fired on a rival Shi'ite cleric. Sadr told Arabic television channel Al Jazeera he would abide by the cease-fire but warned his militia would fight "to the last drop of blood" if U.S. forces encroached on holy sites. "God willing, no matter how many forces the enemy has, we will continue to resist this crusader campaign against Islam and we will stand until the last drop of blood in our bodies to defend these holy sites and this blessed land," he said. Fighting in Najaf near the holiest shrines in Shi'ite Islam has enraged many Iraqis.