John Kerry is criticizing
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi following his speech to Congress today, saying that Allawi was sent before congress to put the "best face" on Bush's Iraq policy. It's one thing to criticize the incumbent he's running against, but it might not be such a great idea for Kerry to make statements against someone whom he would have to work with pretty closely if he got elected.
UPDATE: The gloves are off; Joe Lockhart has taken the game to another level (retinal scan required):
Democrats moved quickly to fuel skepticism, denouncing Allawi's message in unusually pointed terms.
While Kerry was relatively restrained in disputing Allawi's upbeat portrayal, some of his aides suggested that the Iraqi leader was simply doing the bidding of the Bush administration, which helped arrange his appointment in June.
"The last thing you want to be seen as is a puppet of the United States, and you can almost see the hand underneath the shirt today moving the lips," said Joe Lockhart, a senior Kerry adviser.
Again, I have to say that it really doesn't seem to be a good idea to anger (as this statement surely will) allies of the US, with whom, moreover, Kerry would have to work very closely if he got elected. Some are saying, however, that this is sort of a "Hail Mary" play by the Kerry campaign. (Via InstaPundit)
ANOTHER UPDATE: An editorial note: is PM Allawi's first name spelled Ayad or Iyad? I have done a Google search on "allawi", and it seems that both spellings are used, but Iyad occurs with more frequency. Moreover, Iyad is the spelling in the Wikipedia entry, so I'm going to stick with that.
posted by Richa @ 1:46 PM
2 Comments:
This guy was hand picked by the Bush administration. He can easily be replaced. He is nothing more than a pawn in our political game. In Britian they will not let him near Blair. They fear he will hurt Blairs image. In britan Allawi is strongly viewed as americas puppet. On the other hand- I liked his speach. He was well spoken and a great public speaker. But, his speach was a predictiable pep talk.
Here's my view. Obviously, if you're a leader that has risen to power as a result of another country's nation-building project, you're not going to go to that country's legislative body, the legislative body that authorized a huge aid package for your own country, and tell them that things are going very poorly. That said, while it is to be expected that Allawi focused on the positive events in Iraq, I don't think he made up that positive news out of whole cloth either. In addition, I don't think that it is in the US' best interest to install a puppet leader. It's just not practical; we've got enough trouble governing our own country without our leaders worrying about telling some other guy what to do in his country. Also, if indeed the US wants to set up a democracy to "lead by example" in the Middle-East, as has been stated many times by the Bush administration, installing a puppet leader is hardly the way to do it; this is a venture that depends very much on public opinion in that region, and even the slightest hint of incomplete autonomy will have the wolves scenting blood.
Post a Comment
<< Home