Word: shying
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...focus on rebuilding the country. The Iraqi people are losing patience with the lack of security and stability. Right now they are without a functioning government, one that can provide public services. Khalilzad must keep the pressure on Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the man who heads the coalition of Shi'ite parties. Al-Hakim currently seems more concerned with unifying Iraq's Shi'ites with those in Iran. That goes against the Sunni and Kurdish interests as well as the wishes of Iraq's other neighboring countries. Khalilzad must insist that al-Hakim use his influence on behalf...
...disdain for a second Jaafari term, saying Iraq needed a leader who could build a national unity coalition, which the incumbent had failed to do. With the Kurds and Sunnis already committed to reject Jaafari's nomination, the Rice visit seemed to embolden even the prime minister's Shi'ite rivals: For the first time, the largest faction of Jaafari's Shi'ite alliance, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), called on him to quit. (Should Jaafari accede, SCIRI's own Adel Abdul-Mahdi is in pole position to replace him as the candidate...
...Jaafari, who has complained of Western meddling, could of course stay on: He has the backing of the Shi'ite populist Moqtada Sadr, whose Mehdi Army is one of the most powerful militias in Iraq. The support of Sadr's parliamentary delegation had given Jaafari victory over Abdul Mahdi by a margin of one vote in the list's internal election of a candidate for prime minister. But faced with the combined opposition of the Kurds, the Sunnis, his Shi'ite rivals and the U.S. (which also controls the Iraqi security forces), Jaafari will struggle to create a working government...
...Sunnis oppose Jaafari because he is perceived as unwilling to rein in the sectarian thuggery of the Shiite militias-both Sadr's Mehdi Army, and the SCIRI-affiliated Badr Brigade. The U.S. correctly perceived that bringing the Sunnis on board and quelling their insurgency requires clamping down on the Shi'ite militias, but it's not clear that Abdul-Mahdi would prove more likely to achieve this, particularly given his own party's connections to one of the primary offenders. Indeed, the Shi'ite parties, including SCIRI, point to the Sunni insurgency and the failure of the U.S. and Iraqi...
...pair sent strong signals that they respect the Shi'ite alliance?s right to nominate the prime minister. Just hours before flying out of Iraq, Rice and Straw praised the most influential Shi'ite religious leader, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, for his ?wisdom? and emphasized the reality that the name for the top job will come from the ?largest voting block,? the Shi'ite alliance. In light of efforts to bring Sunnis into the political process, some Shi'ites were feeling neglected and the diplomats' rhetoric recognized the restraint Shi'ite groups have shown and the compromises they...