Beleaguered Premier Warns U.S. to Stop Interfering

[spindrifter]

in Iraq's Politics

By EDWARD WONG
Published: March 30, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 29 — Facing growing pressure from the Bush administration to step down, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari of Iraq vigorously asserted his right to stay in office on Wednesday and warned the Americans against interfering in the country's political process.

Mr. Jaafari also defended his recent political alliance with the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, now the prime minister's most powerful backer, saying in an interview that Mr. Sadr and his militia, now thousands strong, are a fact of life in Iraq and need to be accepted into mainstream politics.

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The Iraqi government's tolerance of militias has emerged as the greatest source of contention between American officials and Shiite leaders like Mr. Jaafari, with the American ambassador contending in the past week that militias are killing more people than the Sunni Arab-led insurgency. Dozens of bodies, garroted or with gunshots to the head, turn up almost daily in Baghdad, fueling sectarian tensions that are pushing Iraq closer to full-scale civil war.

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"The source of this is that some American figures have made statements that interfere with the results of the democratic process," he added. "These reservations began when the biggest bloc in Parliament chose its candidate for prime minister."

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/30/international/middleeast/30iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The article indicates that * has made it known that he does not want Jaafari as prime minister. It is clear that we "support" democratic processes only when they run according to our playbook.

[0007]

1. Democratic Iraq....Iraqi's way not the U.S. style, so butt out!!

[AtomicKitten]

2. Dude, you didn't really think * meant a real democracy independent of US?

[Supersedeas]

3. Free....free to be expendable