THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VI, Issue # 265, December 20, 2004
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE VACANT IRAQI EMBASSY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:
A SYMBOL OF AYAD ALLAWI'S MANY PROBLEMS
By Michael Rubin
THE INTERIM GOVERNMENT OF IRAQ & THE POLITICAL PROBLEMS OF INTERIM PRIME MINISTER AYAD ALLAWI -- ALLAWI'S
FAILINGS AS A NATIONAL LEADER: HIS FAILURE TO BUILD A POLITICAL CONSTITUENCY IN IRAQ & HIS SQUANDERING OF
WHAT LITTLE SUPPORT HE HAD AMONG IRAQIS
FULL STORY:
Iraq's embassy in Washington, D.C., is a pretty quiet place these days. It has been more than a year since the Iraqi Governing Council
appointed human-rights activist Rend Rahim Francke as its representative to the United States of America. Rahim handled her job well,
pleading the Iraqi cause at universities, think tanks, on television, and in Congress and the Oval Office.
But, a year after her appointment, the embassy is quiet. Its skeleton staff seldom answers the phone or returns calls. While Iraqi
embassies in Tehran, Damascus, and Paris issue visas, the Iraqi mission in Washington does not. The status of Rend Rahim is
uncertain. When she spoke at the American Enterprise Institute on October 14, 2004, she asked to be identified as "former
ambassador-designate of Iraq to the United States." Three weeks earlier, Al Kamen, who writes the "In the Loop" column at the
Washington Post, reported that the "word is that the new ambassador to Washington is to be Kanan Makiya.... The feeling is
that Makiya will give the Iraqis a more high-profile presence." But Makiya never got his appointment. Iraqi interim government
officials explained that Ayad Allawi simply reneged on his pledge to announce Makiya's appointment at his press conference with
President Bush.
Why does Allawi leave the embassy vacant? His failure to appoint an ambassador is symptomatic of his failings as a leader. While
some U.S. National Security Council officials privately describe Allawi as Iraq's equivalent of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the
reality is far different. In the half year since the Coalition Provisional Authority disbanded, Allawi has not only failed to build a
constituency, but has squandered what little support he had.
Allawi's problems have been multifold. Iraqi Shia juxtapose his April, 2004, calls for restraint in Fallujah, a predominantly Sunni town,
with his enthusiasm to pursue an assault against Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf, home to Shia Islam's holiest shrine. Any support Allawi
enjoyed among Sunnis evaporated when, last month, he "ordered" American troops into Fallujah. Arab liberals distrust the Prime
Minister both for his Baathist past and for his embrace of their former tormenters. Reconciliation is one thing, but empowerment of
monstrous arms of Saddam Hussein's tyranny is quite another. In both Sulaymani and Erbil, Kurdish political discussion revolved more
about the October, 2004, internal Patriotic Union of Kurdistan putsch which has marginalized its leader, Jalal Talabani. To the Kurds,
Allawi's political survival is irrelevant.
Allawi has also lost the support of Iraq's secular middle class, both because his promise to restore security remains unfulfilled and
because of concerns over his business practices. In July, 2003, Allawi lost his top five deputies after they accused him of siphoning
off party funds. While a member of the Governing Council, Allawi not only appointed his brother-in-law Nouri Badran to be Interior
Minister, but also raised eyebrows with an undignified defense of Badran after the Interior-Ministry currency-speculation scandal.
Accusations about Allawi's corruption and abuse of power abound. According to a high-level official currently serving in Iraq's
interim government, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte intervened, early in Allawi's tenure, to prevent the Prime Minister's
takeover of Iraq's independent media commission. Iraq Special Tribunal Administrator Salem Chalabi leveled similar charges against
Allawi with regard to political interference in preparations for Saddam's trial. That the unified election list endorsed by Grand
Ayatollah Ali Sistani included not only Shia, but also Sunnis, Kurds, Turkmen, Christians and Yezidi, is a testament to the breadth
of Iraqi reaction against their interim leader.
The only constituencies which remain solidly pro-Allawi are the White House, Foggy Bottom, and Langley. Because Allawi's support
lies not in Baghdad but in Washington, some Iraqis suggest that the interim Prime Minister is hesitant to appoint any intermediary
who might dilute his access. Perhaps this is a shrewd political move on Allawi's part, but it is also a selfish one — it slights the
thousands of American soldiers who have sacrificed for Iraq, as well as the American taxpayers who have subsidized Iraq's liberation.
Then again, Allawi's decision to leave the post vacant does have one advantage: It gives the interim Prime Minister a retirement
option after the January 30 elections.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
Page Two
Page One
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
Michael Rubin, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, is Editor of Middle East Quarterly. He returned from Iraq
last month.
The foregoing article by Michael Rubin was originally published in National Review Online, December 10, 2004, and can be
found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
December 13, 2004
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