Word: seculars
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...Bhutto union would bring about the systemic change that Pakistan so desperately needs. Both leaders represent Pakistan's failed past, a history defined by close ties between the ruling élite and the military, recurrent corruption and the creeping Islamization of a country whose original vision was a more secular Muslim state...
...Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, appointed by the U.S. but voted out in the first democratic election, is offering himself as a secular alternative to Maliki, but his own track record is not exactly inspiring either. During his brief tenure, he showed little capacity for administration and no political vision beyond his own survival. His government was riddled with corruption and ineptitude, and it was during Allawi's reign that militias began to infiltrate Iraqi security forces. He failed even to rally like-minded secular parties, and has spent little time in Iraq since losing the last election, rarely attending...
...coalition's most likely candidate is Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a French-trained economist and political chameleon. Having been, at various points in his career, a communist, a Ba'athist and a secular liberal democrat, he has switched directions so many times it's hard to know which way he's going. These days, Abdul-Mahdi represents the Shi'ite-fundamentalist Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), which, like Maliki's Dawa Party, is beholden to Tehran. Twice in the past two years, Abdul-Mahdi has told journalists he was on the verge of quitting the SIIC to form his own party...
...most unusual figures in Iraqi politics is Mithal Alussi. He is Sunni - a major handicap in the Prime Ministerial stakes - but is widely viewed as secular and independent. He earned the wrath of Sunni insurgent groups when he visited Israel in the fall of 2004. There have been several attempts to assassinate him; his two sons were killed in one such attack. His Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation is tiny, but Alussi has a high profile because of his frequent appearance on TV news shows, where he rails against sectarianism and government corruption. This has earned him the respect...
...Like Alussi, deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh is seen as upright and secular. But he's a Kurd, which would make him unacceptable to the country's Arab majority. Besides, the Kurds already have the presidency (Jalal Talabani), and several important ministries...