Under The Gun
The U.S. exit strategy hangs on whether Iraq's new government can, in fact, govern
The long, agonizing slog to form Iraq's first national unity government was always something of a gamble. But there were a few moments that convinced U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad that success was possible. He recalls one meeting in particular where leaders of the key Iraqi parties were going around in circles trying to agree on a detailed platform for the new government. Adnan al-Dulaimi, the white-haired elder statesman who leads the largest Sunni bloc in parliament, was exasperated over how long it was taking. Appealing for rapid compromises, he brandished a political cartoon from one of Iraq's daily papers that showed the country's leaders sitting around a table feasting, as a poor man sprawls nearby, bleeding profusely from knife wounds and with bombs protruding from his body. "His plea made a dramatic impact," Khalilzad says, and the leaders soon made a key breakthrough.
It took several additional weeks of talks, but new Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki finally presented the bulk of his cabinet (minus three key security posts) to his anxious nation and a skeptical world. For a beleaguered President Bush, the formation of Iraq's new government came not a moment too soon. Five months of Iraqi wrangling, ultimatums, and tantrums have been punctuated by a withering burst of sectarian violence and another spike in the death toll for U.S. soldiers, all of which have helped drive Bush's approval rating to new lows. Last week, Bush stood next to one of his few steadfast foreign allies, British Prime Minister Tony Blair (who is suffering from similar political ills at home), as they both clung to the potential of Iraq's new government like a lifeboat. "We believe the new government is going to make a big difference in the lives of the Iraqi people," Bush said in a joint press conference.
But his administration was left with little time to savor the long-awaited spark of good news from Iraq, which largely prompted renewed questions about how quickly U.S. troops will be able to come home. U.S. officials were left trying to deflect the pressure, pleading for patience. "It is very important for everyone to realize that one can stay too long, but one can also leave too soon," Khalilzad tells U.S. News. "Iraq has been put on the right path, but there are lots of tactical issues that need to be dealt with."
Maliki's government will enjoy one major advantage over its predecessors'--the presence of a significant number of elected Sunnis in parliament and the cabinet. But he did have to make several compromises to achieve unity. The most painful was a delay in announcing candidates for the three most important security posts--the interior minister, who runs the police; the defense minister, who runs the military; and the minister for national security, who coordinates security policy. He also had to create five new cabinet positions to placate his coalition partners. But in the end, the 39 ministers will represent some 85 percent of the parties in the Iraqi parliament. "He has done a very good job of picking competent people, many with an independent streak," says James Jeffrey, the State Department's senior coordinator for Iraq. "We have rising expectations about this particular government." This is a marked change from how U.S. officials described the outgoing government of former Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari.
advertisement
