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Iraqi president names Haider al-Abadi new prime minister, defying Maliki
By [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] August 11 at 1:16 PM
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s president named prominent Shiite politician [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] as the country’s new prime minister Monday, dislodging incumbent Nouri al-Maliki after eight years in office despite a show of force as he clung to power.
President Fouad Massoum called on Abadi, a member of Maliki’s ruling party and the deputy speaker of parliament, to form a new government.
Maliki has been standing his ground despite mounting pressure from domestic opponents and the Obama administration for him to step aside. He has been widely blamed for the growth of an insurgency by Sunni Muslim extremists that has ravaged the country.
“Now the Iraqi people are in your hands,” Massoum said as he shook hands with Abadi in a ceremony in Baghdad after Shiite politicians named him as their candidate. Massoum took office last month.
But the security situation in the capital remained tense as Maliki refused to give up his fight. He appeared on television Monday evening flanked by 29 supportive members of the 328-seat parliament.
Maliki did not speak during the appearance, but the group announced that it would fight the appointment of Abadi and that it reserved the right to sue anyone who violates the constitution.
Jumaa al-Adwani, a member of the ruling State of Law coalition, said others in the bloc have “stabbed us in the back” by supporting Abadi.
Maliki sent a letter to the country’s Supreme Court on Monday morning, reiterating that he was head of the State of Law coalition, which alone should be charged with choosing the new prime minister.
The coalition is only represented by its head . . . Mr. Nouri Kamel al-Maliki, and no other member in the leadership has the right to sign any papers or documents or agreements,” Maliki said in the personally signed letter.
“We are entering a potential clash,” said an Iraqi official who spoke on the condition og anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. “On the ground, we have tanks and armored vehicles. It’s a very complicated situation with the army.”
Maliki consolidated power during his time in office, assuming the posts of head of the armed forces and minister of defense and interior.
However, the army indicated Monday that its loyalties do not lie with him.
“We are the army of Iraq, not of Maliki,” the armed forces said on its official Twitter account. “We will continue to fulfill our promises, and for our nation we shall be defenders.”
Iraqi leaders called for calm. Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said all parties should be responsible and not resort to violence.
In phone calls Monday morning with Massoum and Abadi, the White House said, Vice President Biden “relayed President Obama’s congratulations and restated his commitment to fully support a new and inclusive Iraqi government, particularly in its fight” against the radical Islamist fighters of the group calling itself the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].
Biden told Massoum that he has “the United States’ full support for his role as guarantor of the Iraqi Constitution,” a White House statement said. It said Biden commended Massoum “for meeting this key milestone.”
In Biden’s conversation with Abadi, the White House said, “the Prime Minister-designate expressed his intent to move expeditiously to form a broad-based, inclusive government capable of countering the threat of the Islamic State . . . and building a better future for Iraqis from all communities.”
Earlier Monday, the United States warned Maliki that he risked further destabilizing Iraq and jeopardizing international support by clinging to power.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry made it clear that Maliki, who became prime minister in 2006 with U.S. backing, had lost Washington’s support.
“We believe that the vast majority of Iraqis are united in an effort to be able to have this peaceful transition” to a new government, Kerry said shortly after arriving in Australia for annual security and diplomatic talks. “We believe that the government formation process is critical in terms of sustaining stability and calm in Iraq, and our hope is Mr. Maliki will not stir those waters.”
Kerry spoke a day after Iraqi special forces teams and army tanks surrounded the Green Zone housing the country’s government as Maliki resisted giving up power, escalating a political crisis at a time when Iraq is facing a lethal challenge from the Islamic State.
In actions that had all the markings of a political coup, Maliki gave a defiant speech in Baghdad late Sunday saying he would lodge a legal case against the country’s president, who had resisted naming him as a candidate for another term as prime minister.
Tanks rumbled onto major bridges and roads in the capital as security forces were put on high alert, with militiamen also patrolling Shiite neighborhoods. The special forces teams surrounding the Green Zone were taking orders directly from the prime minister, security officials said.
But there were indications Monday that Maliki’s actions had turned the tide further against him.
“It has backfired and was unwise,” said Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd who served as foreign minister in the Maliki government. “We have passed the stage of military coups and taking power by force.”
He said there was a “major defection” from Maliki’s political coalition in the wake of his “aggressive” speech, with 127 signatures gathered from Shiite members of parliament Monday morning backing Abadi.
Maliki’s critics accused him of overseeing the de facto fragmentation of the country, with extremists from the Sunni-dominated Islamic State marauding through territory in the north and west and threatening Baghdad. They say Maliki, a Shiite, has persecuted and alienated members of the Sunni minority, driving them into the arms of radical groups.
Although Kerry said the choice of leader is up to Iraqis, he made clear Monday that U.S. patience with Maliki has run out.
“Iraq has clearly made a statement that they are looking for change,” Kerry said in Sydney.
Maliki dug in his heels as his majority Shiite bloc swung away from him and prepared [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] as prime minister. The United States has backed Iraq’s president in a constitutional standoff with Maliki as the country missed a deadline last week to name a new prime minister.
Maliki accuses Massoum, from the ethnic Kurdish minority, of violating the constitution by missing the deadline. The political crisis is paralyzing Baghdad as the Islamic State surges across the country’s north and west. The United States agreed last week to Maliki’s long-standing request for American airstrikes against the militants, but U.S. officials stress that the military action is not intended to gird Maliki’s political position.
“We stand absolutely, squarely behind President Massoum,” Kerry said before the appointment of Abadi as the new prime minister.
“Among the Shia, it is very, very evident that they have three candidates or so for prime minister, none of whom are Mr. Maliki,” Kerry said.
He urged calm and a speedy move to form the new government.
“There should be no use of force, no introduction of troops or militias into this moment of democracy for Iraq,” Kerry said.
“There will be little international support of any kind whatsoever for anything that deviates from the legitimate constitutional process that is in place and being worked on now,” he added.
In Twitter messages after the appointment of Abadi was announced, senior State Department official Brett H. McGurk said the United States welcomes Massoum’s decision.
“ The United States stands ready to fully support a new and inclusive Iraqi government, particularly in its fight against” the Islamic State insurgents, said McGurk, who serves as deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq and Iran.
The United States began [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]in northern Iraq on Friday as the al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State threatened previously stable Kurdish territory, sending thousands of minority Christians and Yazidis [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. But Obama has established limited goals in the air operation, linking further assistance to the formation of a new government in Baghdad that is more inclusive of Sunnis.
The latest crisis came on a day when Kurdish forces expelled Islamic State extremists from two northern Iraqi towns, in the first signs of a turnaround for the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]after a week of stunning losses to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. Their success came in the wake of U.S. airstrikes on the towns.
A senior State Department official would not say whether the United States is providing arms to the Kurdish pesh merga forces but made clear that the Obama administration is participating in some way in a coordinated international effort.
“They are being armed from various sources,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to give limited details on the secretive operation.
“They’re getting some things pretty rapidly,” the official said.
Gearan reported from Sydney. Mustafa Salim in Baghdad; Liz Sly in Fishkhabour, Iraq; and William Branigin and Hunter Schwarz in Washington contributed to this report.
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