The Iraqis are gonna love their new Prime Minister, Allawi's ascent follows extensive PR campaign. Check out this quote from a member of an ultra "wingnut" think tank:

"It was a bid for influence, and it was money well spent," said Danielle Pletka, a Middle East analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. "Allawi has always assumed, in many ways correctly, that he didn't need a constituency in Iraq as long as he had one in Washington."

At least we know he is not an American puppet. It looks like all we have done is trade the Pentagon's stooge (Chalabi) for the State Department/CIA stooge (Allawi).
Reaction to new Iraqi government:
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani:

"It is hoped that this new government will prove its efficiency, honesty and prove it can achieve the enormous tasks that it is supposedly responsible for,"

Shia party voices dissent over Iraqi interim government:

A key Iraqi Shia religious party complained yesterday of "marginalisation and exclusion" from the newly appointed interim government, as US forces continued their efforts to quash a rebellion by Shia fighters in Iraq's south.

Iraq Sunni authority blasts government:

Mohammed Bashar al-Faidi, spokesman for the Committee of Muslim Ulemas, charged that the choice of the government members was highly influenced by the U.S.-led Coalition Authority and based on sectarian considerations.

"He (Allawi) should have established dialogue with those resisting Iraq's occupation instead of describing them as the enemies of Iraq," he said.

Brahimi critical of heavy-handed US

Lakhdar Brahimi said the US was pursuing a strategy that relied too heavily on force and not enough on subtlety and persuasion. "I think it's a little bit too easy to call everybody a terrorist," he said on Wednesday. "And I think if you find out that there are people who are not terrorists who are respectable, genuine Iraqi patriots you must find a way of talking to them."

- posted by Mom/Dad @ 8:16 AM