Iraq’s embattled PM yet to show results

RAMADI, Iraq – In the month since becoming interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi has armed himself with tough new powers and spoken of restoring the death penalty.

He has also raised the possibility of an amnesty for insurgents to help stem violence tearing the fabric of this Arab nation. Many Iraqis, however, dismiss Allawi’s plans as talk but no action.In turbulent cities like Ramadi and nearby Fallujah – hotbeds of anti-US resistance – the Iraqi leader must win over residents to ensure his political survival.But recent events in the two Sunni cities don’t bode well for Allawi, a Shiite.”Nobody here wants Allawi,” elderly Ramadi resident Mohammed Hameed Diyab said as he stood next to a neighbourhood power generator damaged during fighting between US troops and insurgents.”We don’t want anyone brought by the Americans.”Allawi and the United States also have had no success winning additional international support for the effort to restore the country to normalcy.Six weeks after the UN Security Council authorised a separate force to protect UN staff in Iraq, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has reported the world body has not received a single firm commitment of troops.Annan said if the 191 UN member states want the United Nations to play a major role in helping Iraq prepare for elections, draft a constitution, and rebuild the country they must ensure adequate security for UN personnel.”Without that security, we cannot really deploy in any sizeable number,” he said.Security is an especially sensitive issue as the first anniversary of the August 19, 2003, bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad approaches.That blast killed 22 people, including top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.And the Russians told foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari again on Saturday that Moscow would not relent in its refusal to send troops, although it was studying a request to restructure US$8 billion in debt from Saddam’s rule.Allawi was in Egypt on Thursday looking for military help and won Cairo’s promise to help train Iraqis, but only in Egypt for the time being.But the Egyptian government has said little about its intentions since Egyptian diplomat Mohammed Mamdouh Helmi Qutb was snatched by militants as he left a Baghdad mosque Friday.Foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Saturday called it “a very sensitive situation.”Since taking office, Allawi has sought the image of a tough law-and-order enforcer and a leader with policies that transcend ethnic and sectarian boundaries.But the prime minister has yet to use any of the emergency powers he won this month, like imposing limited martial law and curfews on chaotic regions.Violence, meanwhile, has not eased.A recent wave of kidnappings, including that of an Egyptian diplomat, has exposed the helplessness of the government against the well-organised militant groups that use hostages to disrupt Iraq’s reconstruction effort and to drive out foreigners.As a Shiite, Allawi belongs to a community empowered by Saddam’s overthrow.The Sunni minority dominated Iraq for decades, but this new order has been of little help to the 58-year-old, British-educated physician-turned-politician.Radical Shiites, the loudest Shiite voice in Iraq since Saddam’s ouster, see him as a Shiite in name only and view his unelected government as illegitimate.They, along with moderate Shiites, see his plans to reinstate members of Saddam’s notorious Baath party in government and security jobs as an insult to the memory of the thousands of Shiites victimised by the Baathists.Sunni Iraqis, who have led the insurgency against the US-led coalition, view him as the leader of an American puppet government.Public assertions that his government had given the go-ahead to recent US airstrikes against suspected terrorist targets in Fallujah have earned him even more enemies.Allawi’s efforts to end the insurgency are further compounded by the relative popularity of the insurgents in their communities and the heavily religious agenda of their leaders in Fallujah and Ramadi, where religious piety is widespread.The common belief that they are fighting a just cause against an “infidel” occupation army leaves Allawi as the one catering to Islam’s enemy.- Nampa-APMany Iraqis, however, dismiss Allawi’s plans as talk but no action.In turbulent cities like Ramadi and nearby Fallujah – hotbeds of anti-US resistance – the Iraqi leader must win over residents to ensure his political survival.But recent events in the two Sunni cities don’t bode well for Allawi, a Shiite.”Nobody here wants Allawi,” elderly Ramadi resident Mohammed Hameed Diyab said as he stood next to a neighbourhood power generator damaged during fighting between US troops and insurgents.”We don’t want anyone brought by the Americans.”Allawi and the United States also have had no success winning additional international support for the effort to restore the country to normalcy.Six weeks after the UN Security Council authorised a separate force to protect UN staff in Iraq, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has reported the world body has not received a single firm commitment of troops.Annan said if the 191 UN member states want the United Nations to play a major role in helping Iraq prepare for elections, draft a constitution, and rebuild the country they must ensure adequate security for UN personnel.”Without that security, we cannot really deploy in any sizeable number,” he said.Security is an especially sensitive issue as the first anniversary of the August 19, 2003, bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad approaches.That blast killed 22 people, including top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.And the Russians told foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari again on Saturday that Moscow would not relent in its refusal to send troops, although it was studying a request to restructure US$8 billion in debt from Saddam’s rule.Allawi was in Egypt on Thursday looking for military help and won Cairo’s promise to help train Iraqis, but only in Egypt for the time being.But the Egyptian government has said little about its intentions since Egyptian diplomat Mohammed Mamdouh Helmi Qutb was snatched by militants as he left a Baghdad mosque Friday.Foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Saturday called it “a very sensitive situation.”Since taking office, Allawi has sought the image of a tough law-and-order enforcer and a leader with policies that transcend ethnic and sectarian boundaries.But the prime minister has yet to use any of the emergency powers he won this month, like imposing limited martial law and curfews on chaotic regions.Violence, meanwhile, has not eased.A recent wave of kidnappings, including that of an Egyptian diplomat, has exposed the helplessness of the government against the well-organised militant groups that use hostages to disrupt Iraq’s reconstruction effort and to drive out foreigners.As a Shiite, Allawi belongs to a community empowered by Saddam’s overthrow.The Sunni minority dominated Iraq for decades, but this new order has been of little help to the 58-year-old, British-educated physician-turned-politician.Radical Shiites, the loudest Shiite voice in Iraq since Saddam’s ouster, see him as a Shiite in name only and view his unelected government as illegitimate.They, along with moderate Shiites, see his plans to reinstate members of Saddam’s notorious Baath party in government and security jobs as an insult to the memory of the thousands of Shiites victimised by the Baathists.Sunni Iraqis, who have led the insurgency against the US-led coalition, view him as the leader of an American puppet government.Public assertions that his government had given the go-ahead to recent US airstrikes against suspected terrorist targets in Fallujah have earned him even more enemies.Allawi’s efforts to end the insurgency are further compounded by the relative popularity of the insurgents in their communities and the heavily religious agenda of their leaders in Fallujah and Ramadi, where religious piety is widespread.The common belief that they are fighting a just cause against an “infidel” occupation army leaves Allawi as the one catering to Islam’s enemy.- Nampa-AP