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| Iraq |
| Obama's Bid To Pick Iraq Leader Spurned |
| 2010-11-11 |
| How to lose the peace in Iraq? Elect Obama president Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, one of America's closest allies in the country, has rebuffed the personal request of President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to relinquish his post as Iraqis form a new government in Baghdad. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani rejected a request by President Obama to give up his post in the new government. The U.S. wanted ex-Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to take the presidency. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, one of America's closest allies in the country, has rebuffed the personal request of President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to relinquish his post as Iraqis form a new government in Baghdad. Iraqi leaders are expected to announce Thursday a new government in which Mr. Talabani remains president, Nouri al-Maliki remains prime minister and Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya party, which won the most votes in March's election, will control the speakership of Parliament and the presidency of the National Security Council, according to Iraqi and U.S. officials familiar with negotiations that ended Wednesday in Baghdad between Iraq's major parties. Last Saturday, Mr. Obama phoned Mr. Talabani and asked him to give up the seat he has held since 2005 so that Mr. Allawi could be Iraq's president, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials familiar with the diplomacy. Mr. Obama on Saturday also urged the president of the Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, to accept Mr. Allawi in the role of the presidency. Qubad Talabani, Mr. Talabani's son and the Washington representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government, said the Kurds were disappointed with the United States. "As the deadlock continues, Iyad Allawi has said the only post he wants is prime minister or president. The Americans have come to us and have asked us to step aside and relinquish the post of president to Iraqiya and specifically to Iyad Allawi, which we find very disappointing," he said. Mr. Talabani, however, said the pressure on his father to resign was reigniting old fears for many Iraqis. "The Kurds have been the strongest ally and partner of the United States since before the liberation and certainly during it," he said. "And for the United States to be leaning on us, as they are now, in effect handpicking the new leaders of Iraq, is not respectful of Iraq's parliamentary system and touches on all of the insecurities of the Kurds, that the United States will once again betray us." According to U.S. and Iraqi officials, Mr. Biden in a phone call last week offered the Kurds the speakership of the Parliament and the Oil Ministry and also a public statement offering the Kurds a security guarantee. Mr. Biden's office declined to comment for this report. On Tuesday, Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent, urged Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan region, to replace Mr. Talabani as well. |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #4 c'mon guys. Obama is a Citizen Of The World™. State sovereignty means little to him in the U.S., and even less elsewhere. Elections? See: "Acorn". If you didn't want him to organize your community for ya, you should've voted against him, Iraq. And Kurds? You think he'd side with you against "authentic" muslims? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-11-11 16:35 |
| #3 Quickest way to undermine a leader is to publicly question his ability. And that may have been the intent. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-11-11 14:26 |
| #2 Iraq is a sovereign state. What part of that did Bambi, Biden and the rest miss? Iraq will pick its leaders, and we will work with them. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2010-11-11 13:29 |
| #1 Quickest way to undermine a leader is to publicly question his ability. Way to go team Bambi. We can always count on you to fuck things up even more. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2010-11-11 12:24 |