Iraq’s new savior?
Prime Minister designate Jawad al-Maliki survived an ambush here yesterday.
He was heading out of the bathroom after a meeting of parliament’s defense and security committee when we pounced. Our crew had been waiting for him. I reached out to shake his hand. It was still wet. Apparently there were no paper towels. He reached out his dry wrist so I could shake it. I shook it.
"So you spoke to President Bush yesterday, what did he tell you?" I asked without preamble.
"You want to ask me here?" Maliki wanted to know, turning to look at the door with an unmistakable little blue symbol of a man on it.
"No, the bathroom might not be a great background for your network television debut," I conceded.
We walked into a small nearby office and talked about his priorities, the country’s unity government and militias. (Highlights below).
The headlines of the interview were: Maliki says he is committed to a national unity government (a government that divides power among Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds), wants to integrate the militias into the Iraqi security forces, and doesn’t want to waste time. He said he will have a cabinet together within 15 days.
Maliki struck me as confident, relaxed and outgoing. He didn’t seem to mind at all that I ambushed him on the way back from the bathroom.
Change from predecessor
Maliki has a very different personality from the outgoing Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Jaafari is polite, quiet and somehow mysterious. Jaafari reads poetry (often aloud) and can easily quote early American history. Last time I had dinner with Jaafari he showed me a copy of the federalist papers he was given at the White House. He told me books are his favorite gifts.
When he speaks, Jaafari buries his chin in his chest and mumbles. He can speak for hours without making a single clear statement. Jaafari almost never uses his hands when speaking, hiding his emphasis and making him even harder to read.
Maliki is much more clear. He speaks in a loud decisive voice. He has been described impatient, pragmatic and a realist. But he is still untested. We will know most about him when he faces his first crisis, which will no doubt be soon.
New savior
When doing interviews about Maliki yesterday I was also stuck by how many people here, including his political opponents, want him to succeed. It seems there is no other choice. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, gave Maliki a ringing endorsement.
"There is a good indications that he is a strong and competent leader, and we will do all we can to help him succeed," said Khalilzad.
But there are major challenges: terrorism, corruption, sectarian tensions and decades of scores to settle. Maliki has now been cast into the role of savior.
Highlights from Maliki's interview with NBC NEWS:
What did President Bush tell you on the phone?
Maliki: He concentrated on two main points. The first was to congratulate me. The second was to say he is ready to give the necessary support to make the government succeed in the next stage. He wishes the process of forming the government to be quick to compensate for time lost in the previous stage.
What are your main priorities?
I think the priority is to seal the cracks in the relationship among the Iraqi people. Some of them are sectarian, others are ethnic or political… So the first mission is to rebuild a good relationship among the Iraqi people regardless of their ethnicity, nationality, sect or religion. I want to deal with Iraq as Iraq and with Iraqis as Iraqis.
Another main issue I want to address is administrative corruption. The government should be formed of professional and honest experts. I will take decisive stands against those the one turn their ministry to an organ of his party, nationality or sect.
Can you, will you fight the militias?
The militias should be annexed to the army and police… The older ones should be retired with a pension and those who can join the armed forces will be welcomed with the condition they come as individuals. My policy will be that weapons have to stay in the hands of government only as it has the security responsibility.
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