Talking Up The New Guy
U.S. hopes now rest on a tough, pragmatic Shiite politician
BAGHDAD--It was, at least briefly, one of those hopeful moments that have been all too rare in Iraq. Over a relaxed supper of local fish and Arab salads, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was getting to know the top leaders of Iraq's next government. She was seated next to Tariq al-Hashimi, the Sunni politician set to become one of the nation's two vice presidents. Hashimi, like his other colleagues, was brimming with optimism for Iraq's first government under its new Constitution. "I think," he told Rice, "we're about to open a new chapter in Iraq."
But the next morning, it was just another page in a sadly familiar story: Hashimi's sister was gunned down in a drive-by shooting as she left her Baghdad home. (Only two weeks earlier, his brother had also been killed.) Somehow, progress in Iraq always seems to bring its own, often immediate, backlash. Each previous government transition has provoked a spike in violence, as insurgents try to make the new regime seem weak and ineffectual. So with the designation of a new choice for prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, which broke a four-month stalemate, Iraq is bracing for another surge in attacks.
Herculean challenges. In a dramatic attempt to jump-start Maliki's efforts to form a new government, Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld staged an unusual joint surprise visit to the Iraqi capital last week. Their reception was mixed, but the trip is a sign of just how much Washington has riding on Maliki. The promise of a national unity government has been something of a political lifeline for the Bush administration in its search for some way to declare victory in Iraq and begin withdrawing significant numbers of U.S. troops. Rice and Rumsfeld are clearly hoping that Maliki's appointment will mark a turning point in a conflict that has dragged down President Bush's poll numbers to the lowest point in his tenure. But Maliki faces a herculean set of challenges in trying to keep this shattered, divided nation from slipping deeper into chaos.
For a start, Maliki announced that he intends to select his cabinet and launch his government as early as this week, although in Iraq, negotiations always seem to stretch out to the last possible minute, and deals are never certain until they are complete. So the Rice-Rumsfeld mission was a high-stakes gamble for the Bush administration, which has already been accused of playing a heavy-handed role in Iraqi politics. Rice had been in Baghdad only three weeks earlier to push politicians to find an alternative candidate to interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari. This latest trip could end up complicating the delicate balancing act Maliki has to perform when parceling out ministry posts to the various parties. Indeed, as soon as they departed, Shiite firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr condemned the visit as a "shocking intervention in Iraqi affairs." Rice and Rumsfeld also risked playing into the hands of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi, who only one day earlier had released a rare videotape blasting the Iraqi government as a U.S. puppet.
advertisement
