Word: pachachi
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...also be the key to his future. Pachachi is a credible candidate to become Iraq's President after the U.S. hands over power on June 30. Elections are set for December or January; he is also talked about as a possible transitional leader until then. Pachachi is admired for his diplomatic cool. "He's respected by everyone," says a Kurdish official who has witnessed Pachachi in action in recent weeks...
...Pachachi has helped keep Iraq's transition on track. When the U.N.'s Baghdad headquarters was bombed last August, resulting in 23 deaths, he flew to Geneva to meet Annan--an old friend--and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. He urged them to stay focused on winding down the U.S. occupation and giving Iraq a sovereign government. When multiple suicide attacks killed more than 180 in Baghdad and Karbala earlier this month, Pachachi worked the phones, summoning council members of all ethnic groups to a news conference to appeal for unity...
...drawer schmoozing comes easily to Pachachi, who was weaned on politics. His father was a Prime Minister in the late 1940s, well before Saddam Hussein came to power. And Pachachi married the daughter of another former Iraqi Premier, Ali Jawdat. The couple met when he was 14 and married before he began studying for his doctorate at Georgetown University. Pachachi became a diplomat, serving as Iraq's ambassador to the U.N. in the 1960s and then as Foreign Minister. Forced into exile when he refused to join the Baath Party, he became an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, where...
...sure, Pachachi is no shoo-in for the presidency. He is a Sunni in a largely Shi'ite country. His passions--attending Bach festivals in Europe and listening to Don Giovanni at home--are unusual among Iraqis. And given that half the country is under 20, Iraqis might wonder whether the tall man with a silver forelock is up to the job. Pachachi's aides argue that his age is an asset, especially after the Saddam era. "He's 81, so he's obviously not going to become a dictator," says Fareed Yasseen, an Iraqi-American consultant who serves...
...Pachachi is coy about his future. "Isn't it premature to talk about who is going to be President?" he asks. But with the occupation ending in less than four months, it's not too soon to ponder Saddam's successor...