Talabani to Obama: Drop Dead
Eli Lake at The Washington Times reports:
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, one of America's closest allies in the country, has rebuffed the personal request of President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to relinquish his post as Iraqis form a new government in Baghdad.
Iraqi leaders are expected to announce Thursday a new government in which Mr. Talabani remains president, Nouri al-Maliki remains prime minister and Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya party, which won the most votes in March's election, will control the speakership of Parliament and the presidency of the National Security Council, according to Iraqi and U.S. officials familiar with negotiations that ended Wednesday in Baghdad between Iraq's major parties.
Last Saturday, Mr. Obama phoned Mr. Talabani and asked him to give up the seat he has held since 2005 so that Mr. Allawi could be Iraq's president, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials familiar with the diplomacy. Mr. Obama on Saturday also urged the president of the Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, to accept Mr. Allawi in the role of the presidency.
Since late summer, U.S. officials had been trying to get Mr. al-Maliki and Mr. Allawi to share power in the government because neither man's party won the majority of votes. But Mr. al-Maliki's Rule of Law party ultimately formed an alliance with the Kurds and another Shiite bloc with ties to Iran known as the Iraqi National Alliance.
Qubad Talabani, Mr. Talabani's son and the Washington representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government, said the Kurds were disappointed with the United States.
"As the deadlock continues, Iyad Allawi has said the only post he wants is prime minister or president. The Americans have come to us and have asked us to step aside and relinquish the post of president to Iraqiya and specifically to Iyad Allawi, which we find very disappointing," he said.
Mr. Obama's personal diplomacy in Iraq stands in contrast to the State Department's stated position that it would prefer a government that included Mr. Allawi's party, but was not trying to impose an arrangement on the Iraqi people.
"The formation of a new government will require decisions by Iraqi leaders. We are not trying to impose any solution on Iraq. We are pleased to see serious interaction among the leaders to form an inclusive government," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in response to a query about Mr. Obama's efforts to get Mr. Talabani to resign.
Mr. Obama's efforts are also a reminder that despite the president's announcement in August of the end of major combat operations in Iraq, the U.S. is still closely engaged in the country it invaded in 2003.
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