Word: maliki
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Despite the secular-nationalist orientation of both al-Maliki's and Allawi's slates, the election results showed a familiar sectarian split. Most Sunnis voted for Allawi's Iraqiya list, while the Shi'ite vote was split between al-Maliki's State of Law slate and that of the INA, representing the Shi'ite Islamist parties that had put al-Maliki in power. If al-Maliki could mend the rift in the Shi'ite vote and cut a deal with the INA (which won 70 seats), that combination alone would put him just four seats shy of a majority...
...clear victory. Some leading members of his bloc have warned that violence would be the consequence if the Iraqiya list were denied what they consider to be their right to lead the government. Iraq's Sunnis have been suspicious of the Shi'ite-led government of al-Maliki, not without reason, and there has been an acute sense of betrayal among the former insurgents who joined the Sunni Awakening, which facilitated the success of the U.S. troop surge, only to find themselves stiffed by al-Maliki's government...
...dangerous instability. And that may be more true than ever, after the Sunnis came in from the cold, first in turning on al-Qaeda, and then in participating in the election. But despite some perfunctory efforts to include some Sunni representation, addressing Sunni communal aspirations has never been al-Maliki's priority. And the arithmetic of inclusion has become vastly more difficult now that the Sunnis believe they won the election. (Watch TIME's video "Are Iraq's Security Forces Ready...
There may be an element of truth in that charge, because Iran has previously backed the broad Shi'ite-Kurdish alliance that brought al-Maliki to power, and is clearly pressing for another friendly, Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad. Allawi is fiercely antagonistic toward Tehran, and his bloc was strongly backed by Sunni Arab regimes such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, which are leery of Iranian influence in Arab lands. (Those governments have been standoffish toward al-Maliki.) (See pictures of the U.S. troops in Iraq...
...Maliki did send a delegation to the Iranian city of Qum last weekend to seek the backing of Iraqi Shi'ite firebrand cleric al-Sadr, whose supporters are the largest and most influential element within the INA. Indeed, with some 40 seats won by his followers, al-Sadr has emerged as a potential kingmaker. His enmity toward al-Maliki is well established, however, especially since al-Maliki unleashed the Iraqi military on al-Sadr's supporters in Basra in 2008. Al-Sadr has warned that he would veto a second term for al-Maliki, and so the Prime Minister...