A Worn Road for U.N. Aide [WH forced Illawi on Brahimi]

(Mods: This is listed under 'News Analysis', so if it needs to be moved, I understand.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/31/international/middleeast/31IRAQ.html?hp

A Worn Road for U.N. Aide
By DEXTER FILKINS

Published: May 31, 2004

<SNIP>

As he promised, Mr. Brahimi roamed across the country to talk with Iraqis about what the shape of their government should be. At the time, he said he hoped to appoint a government of technocrats — experts who stayed above the push-and-pull of politics.

Yet when he settled on a choice for prime minister — Hussein Shahristani, a nuclear scientist and a Shiite — he ran into a wall of opposition from the leaders of mainstream Shiite political parties, who wanted the job for themselves.

Instead of fashioning the kind of savvy compromise for which he is known, Mr. Brahimi appears to have folded, acquiescing to the desires of the Americans, who were promoting Dr. Alawi. While American officials maintain that Dr. Alawi was Mr. Brahimi's choice, people close to Mr. Brahimi say he reluctantly endorsed him only after American officials aggressively recommended him.

One person conversant with the negotiations said Mr. Brahimi was presented with "a fait accompli" after President Bush's envoy to Iraq, Robert D. Blackwill, "railroaded" the Governing Council into coalescing around him.

Considering Illawi's past and present connections to the CIA and the fact that he is related to Chalabi, why am I not surprised? I predict he has a limited lifespan from this point on.

during the Clinton Israel/Palestenian accord. The neoncons now in place, promised the Israelis that bush would bring peace. All bush has done is to have more Israelis/Palesteninas killed.

Nothing new with those criminals.

~snip~
President Bush and his aides announced with some fanfare in October that they were creating the Iraq Stabilization Group within the National Security Council to increase the White House's role in coordinating Iraq policy. "We're trying to mobilize the entire U.S. government to support this effort" in Iraq, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said at the time.

But seven months later, the four original leaders of the Stabilization Group have taken on new roles, and only one remains concerned primarily with Iraq. A search of the White House Web site indicates the phrase "Iraq Stabilization Group" has not been mentioned publicly since October.
~snip~
That leaves Blackwill, the former ambassador to India, who is functioning as a one-man Iraq Stabilization Group. And while Blackwill remains devoted entirely to Iraq, he is being spread a bit thin: Bush announced April 19 that in addition to working with the United Nations and concentrating on "issues related to Iraq's governance," Blackwill would also become Bush's "presidential envoy to Iraq," serving with the new ambassador, John D. Negroponte.

In his free time, Blackwill listens to jazz and watches old movies.

The line between politics and official White House business continues to blur.

On May 3, Vice President Cheney delivered a speech to the employees of the Wal-Mart distribution center in Bentonville, Ark. According to local newspapers, both Wal-Mart and the Bush-Cheney campaign described the speech as official -- taxpayer-funded -- White House business.

~snip~
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34519-2004May17.html?nav=rss_politics

(Evocative name, dont you think?)

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Robert_D._Blackwill

"Prior to his academic career, Blackwill spent 22 years in the foreign service and served at the State Department under Secretaries Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, and George P. Shultz. He was U.S. Ambassador and Chief Negotiator at the Conventional Force Negotiations with the Warsaw Pact in Vienna and was Special Assistant to President George Herbert Walker Bush for European and Soviet Affairs in 1989-90."

<SNIP>

"Blackwill, according to ciaonet.org, served as "Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, is the Belfer Lecturer in International Security at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is also Faculty Chair of the School's Executive Programs for U.S. and Russian General Officers and for members of the Russian State Duma; of the Kennedy School's Initiative on U.S.-China Relations; and of the Executive Program for Senior Chinese Military Officers. His last position in government was as President George Herbert Walker Bush's Special Assistant for Soviet and European Affairs."

Also a former Bilderberger, for what it's worth...

Sadly, one must assume that if the b*sh cabal says something good about a person, chances are that person is not to be trusted.

How screwed up is that?

Sigh.

This is all bullshit. Brahimi is getting paid well to see if he can pull off a repeat of that. I don't know who these people think they are fooling. It sure ain't me.

Don

Got a link on that Karzai business? I'd like to read more about that.

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo had a play by play over the confusion and conflicting news stories. The WH through the NYT first floated the the notion that Brahimi actually picked this guy, then Brahimi came out and said "Whuh? I didn't pick him, but,umm, if that's who they want, OK"

Pretty good stuff over there.