IGC picks Iyad Allawi to be Iraqi PM

[Sirveri]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3D9396BD-5E93-4AC8-99A9-C6A9C010DD5A.htm


The US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council has nominted council member Iyad Allawi, who has long-time links to the CIA, to be prime minister in Iraq's interim government.

"There was a meeting of the Governing Council and Dr Allawi was unanimously chosen as prime minister," Hani Adris, an aide to Allawi said on Friday.

He added that UN envoy al-Akhdar al-Ibrahimi and the US-run occupation authority in Iraq had endorsed that choice.

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. Some news items these days make me laugh out loud

This was one of them.

Click here for fair and balanced yet stunning, insulting, shocking, funny buttons, magnets and stickers

[Tempest]

2. Iraqis Have Doubts Over Choice of Interim Premier

News that Iyad Allawi had been chosen as interim prime minister on Friday did little to cheer many Iraqis who dismissed him as an outsider lacking the political experience to lead the country out of post-war chaos.

http://tinyurl.com/2nkjj

[King of New Orleans]

3. I'm sure he'll be as popular

as the new Iraqi flag was

[rocktivity]

5. Yes, I remember it well

:headbang:
rocknation

[nolajazz]

6. Actually, NPR Iraq reporter just said he's the second most unpopular

firgure there. Next only to Chalibi. That's from NPR's Marketplace this afternoon.

[Journeyman]

4. Found this on a Yahoo board discussion of this selection. . .

"Aren't there some former Vietnamese Prime Ministers still living in the US? Allawi's CIA and Chalabi links are good, and his decades living outside Iraq will certainly help, but this is so serious I think we need someone with proven experience following US orders while alienating the populace and losing a war."

[webtrainer]

7. related WP: Pick Appears to Catch Bush Administration Off Guard

get ready for this one
------------------------
The Bush administration appeared to be caught off guard and somewhat confused yesterday after the Iraqi Governing Council nominated a physician with longtime CIA ties as the post-occupation prime minister. Officials in Washington scrambled to respond after the Iraqis took the public lead in a process that was supposed to be run by a U.N. envoy.
------------------------
-BigEvilLaugh

This detail how it was the IGC, not * admin or the UN who ran this guy up the flagpole. The Governing Council announced it, but *admin was expecting Brahimi to release the name. Powell was clueless, for example.

onedit:link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64453-2004May28.html