New Government In Iraq

Today is a pivotal day in Iraq, as the leadership of the new government has been ratified. The last paragraph of this story relates two disconcerting facts, however. Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari (a Shiite) ended up naming himself Acting Defense Minister, a position that had been held for a Sunni. About the worst thing someone could do for the defense of Iraq is to make Sunnis unhappy, as their most disenfranchised citizens pose by far the most significant security threat to the nation.

Worse still is the appointment of the highly suspect Ahmed Chalabi as one of four deputy prime ministers. Chalabi--at the time in exile--was beloved by the Pentagon and was the enthusiastic source behind several erroneous U.S. intelligence conclusions about Iraq (the existence of a clandestine WMD program, the use of portable weapons labs). As we understand better now, he was mostly just itching to return to his country in a position to take power. He was, in fact, the original choice of the U.S. to be interim Prime Minister. That is, until the U.S. discovered strong evidence of fraud, deception, and collusion with Iran and ousted Chalabi in favor of Iyad Allawi. Somehow the slick and charming Chalabi secured a top position in the Iraqi government nevertheless.

His history of self-interested cooperation with foreign powers will probably not play well with the public given his other newly acquired position in the government: Acting Oil Minister. Even if he proves honest, the appearance could not be any worse...