Who Is Abdul Qadir

We learned this morning that Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qadir says he'll want US troops around until 2018 or so. Meanwhile, Swopa notes that Qadir seems to have been placed in office by US occupation authorities rather than by domestic Iraqi political actors. Which, of course, is to be expected since all signs are that the presence of US troops in Iraq is unpopular and not the sort of thing Iraqi politicians accountable to their constituents would be asking to continue forever and ever.

Comments

This reminds me a little of the Bush Administration repeatedly "investigating" its own alleged wrongdoings.

Came out with a clean bill of health every time...

Posted by RKU | January 15, 2008 2:56 PM

Let's take a look at the relevant passages from Swopa's post, shall we?

The odds are good that ... I wouldn't be surprised if ... It may be more likely that ...

Well, as long as Swopa's got everything nailed down completely, there's no reason not to believe everything he says 100%!

Meanwhile, it's pretty humorous watching the left wing flail around for new talking points, now that their old talking point - the surge failed because there's no political progress - turns out to be BS.

Posted by Al | January 15, 2008 3:26 PM

My apologies, Al. I leave assertions of absolute certainty to blowhard conservatives and used car salesmen.

Further apologies for the redundancy contained in the preceding sentence.

Posted by Swopa | January 15, 2008 3:40 PM

The National Strategy for Victory in Iraq lists "providing its own security" as a medium term goal. The long term goal is an Iraq that’s "peaceful, united, stable, and secure."

Qadir seems to have been placed in office by US occupation authorities rather than by domestic Iraqi political actors

How is that possible? Iraq is a fully sovereign nation.

Posted by croatoan | January 15, 2008 3:46 PM

I wish I could believe that Al and his executive branch friends understand that what he's saying is breathtakingly stupid, and that he just says it for propaganda purposes. But I've come to think Al & co. honestly believe these things.

It's really quite frightening.

Posted by 23456 | January 15, 2008 4:01 PM

"Meanwhile, Swopa notes that Qadir seems to have been placed in office by US occupation authorities rather than by domestic Iraqi political actors."

Sounds damning. Let's hear from Swopa directly:

A quick Googling expedition reveals that the minister's full name is Abdul Qadir Muhammed Jasim (why the NYT refers to him only by the first half of his name, I don't know), and he was appointed defense minister at the end of the wrangling over security ministries between the Bushites and Iraq's Shiite-dominated government in 2006.

So, in other words, Abdul Qadir was appointed by Iraq's democratically elected government in the beginning of 2006.

Posted by Fred | January 15, 2008 4:53 PM

Abdul Qadir Muhammed Jasim happens to be the Sunni Iraqi military officer who participated in the US attack on Fallujah - which did not endear him to the Sunni opposition.

Not to mention that he was appointed by Maliki, who appears to be universally reviled in Iraq by both Sunnis and at least some Shia - in particular, al-Sadr, who is now cutting deals with Hakim to dump Maliki for a coalition of Shia and Sunni and Kurds.

This article reinforces what I've been saying:

Iraq's Sunnis reclaim lost ground
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA15Ak01.html

Maliki's days are numbered.

The only "political progress" being made today, contrary to Al's nonsensical assertion, is one being engineered by Iran to dump the US puppet government and then unite the sides at least long enough to remove the US occupation.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | January 15, 2008 8:13 PM