There is a riddle in some language that "Even the Bird that flies highest still
descends and lands in the valley some day".
--------------------------------------------- Allawi Gets a Baathist
Endorsement By BOBBY GHOSH/AMMAN, JORDANFri Aug 31, 2:05 PM ET
Iyad Allawi's bid to become Iraq's prime minister again has received an
endorsement from an unexpected source: the Baath Party. A spokesman for the
exiled leadership of Saddam Hussein's old party told TIME that Allawi "is the
best person at this time to be given the task of ruling Iraq." He said he hoped
that Allawi would pave the way for the Baath Party to "return to the political
life of Iraq, where we rightfully belong."
The spokesman, known only as Abu Hala, said the Baath leadership under
Saddam's deputy, Izzat al-Douri, were "more than willing to work with Allawi,
because we see him as a nationalist and Iraqi patriot, and not a sectarian
figure." He said the party didn't agree with all of Allawi's policies when he
headed a transitional Iraqi government in 2004, but "we have no doubt that he
would represent the interests of Iraq, not of Shi'ites or Sunnis or any other
group."
Abu Hala said the Baath leadership has had several meetings with Allawi, and
"we found him open-minded and fair." Allawi has previously told TIME that he
has for some time had channels open to exiled Baath leaders, many of whom live
in Jordan and Syria. Allawi has criticized the government of current Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki for its de-Baathification policies, saying they hurt
many blameless Iraqis. But he has never called for the party's return to Iraq's
political stage.
A former member of the party himself, Allawi broke with Saddam Hussein in
1975 and lived in exile in London. He survived an assassination attempt by
Baath agents in 1978. But since his return to Iraq after the fall of Saddam, he
has consistently argued that the entire party membership should not be
criminalized. Many Iraqis joined the Baath under duress, or because it was the
only way to get jobs or advance careers.
In recent months, Allawi has mounted a campaign to return to power, seeking a
new parliamentary alliance of secular, Sunni and Kurdish parties to offset the
strength of the dominant Shi'ite coalition behind Maliki. A powerful Washington
public-relations firm has also begun to aggressively lobby Senators and
Congressmen to back Allawi.
The endorsement from the Baath leadership is a mixed blessing. It may buy
Allawi some goodwill with Sunnis, the main beneficiaries of Saddam's rule. A
Shi'ite himself, Allawi antagonized Sunnis when he signed off on the massive
American military offensive on Fallujah in the fall of 2004.
But the Baathist backing will have the opposite effect on his fellow
Shi'ites, especially for the Islamist coalition that is the largest block in
the Iraqi parliament, and on Kurdish parties that comprise the second-largest
block. Shi'ites and Kurds bore the brunt of Saddam's repression and regard the
Baath leadership as mass murderers. Many members of Allawi's own secular
coalition regard the Baath as anathema.
What's more, the American politicians Allawi is courting will likely find it
uncomfortable to be on the same side as Saddam's old party.
View this article on Time.com
Second British general slams U.S. policy in postwar Iraq By Adrian
CroftSun Sep 2, 4:37 PM ET
U.S. plans for handling Iraq after the 2003 invasion were "fatally flawed," a
retired British general said, adding that the U.S. administration had refused
to listen to British concerns about postwar planning.
Major General Tim Cross said he had talked to former Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld before the invasion about the need to have international support and
enough troops on the ground to reconstruct Iraq.
"He didn't want to hear that message. The U.S. had already convinced
themselves that Iraq would emerge reasonably quickly as a stable democracy,"
Cross told the Sunday Mirror.
"Anybody who tried to tell them anything that challenged that idea -- they
simply shut it out," Cross, the most senior British officer involved in
planning post-war Iraq, added.
His comments echoed those of General Mike Jackson, head of the British army
during the invasion, who was quoted by The Daily Telegraph on Saturday as
describing Rumsfeld's approach as "intellectually bankrupt."
The unusually outspoken comments by former top military men follow weeks of
commentary, mainly in the U.S. press, suggesting British forces have failed in
southern Iraq and are set to flee.
Defense analyst Charles Heyman told Reuters the criticism was surfacing
"because everybody realizes this is now a failed policy and they are all
casting around for scapegoats."
"Why didn't someone resign at the time and say this is foolish and
foolhardy?" he said.
He said the recriminations were not helpful to future military and diplomatic
relations between Washington and London, which have traditionally boasted of a
"special relationship."
PULLOUT FROM BASRA
British troops are expected to pull out of their last base in Basra city in
the next few days to concentrate their presence in an airbase outside the city.
This is part of a plan to hand over control of the province to Iraqi security
forces by the end of 2007 and pave the way for an eventual pullout of all
British forces.
But the departure of Prime Minister Tony Blair in June to be succeeded by
Gordon Brown has raised speculation that Britain could speed up the withdrawal
of British forces.
Blair had staked his personal reputation on standing "shoulder-to-shoulder"
with the United States.
Heyman said it would be very difficult for the British to withdraw entirely
from the airbase as they were needed to protect supply routes and, if
necessary, the oil fields.
He said he expected quite large numbers of British troops still to be there
six months from now.
William Hague, foreign affairs spokesman for Britain's opposition
Conservatives, said on Sunday the generals' concerns strengthened the case for
Britain to hold a full-scale inquiry into the origins and conduct of the Iraq
war.
The British government has successfully resisted previous opposition calls
for an inquiry while British troops are operating in Iraq though it has not
ruled one out in the future.
Hague, whose Conservatives supported the Iraq war, said "very crucial
mistakes have been made."
Planners "clearly underestimated ... the number of troops that would be
needed for an effective occupation force in Iraq (and) they clearly made a
mistake in the immediate disbandment of the Iraqi army," he told Sky News.
Rumsfeld resigned last year after becoming a focal point for criticism of the
U.S. administration's handling of the unpopular Iraq war.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael BWambuga wa Balongo
---------------------------------
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