Close Up
Adil Abdel Mahdi: an upcoming political leader?
Following the many failures of Nouri Al Maliki’s Iraqi Government, and his inability to restore security and basic public services, Adil Abdel Mahdi might just become the next Prime Minister if a new parliamentary coalition overthrows Maliki’s government. But who is this man?
He was born in Baghdad in 1948, to a Shiite bourgeois family. He adhered to the Ba’athist Party in the early 1960’s, but disagreeing with its policies, he quit and exiled himself to France in 1969. Over there he engaged himself in the Maoist Communist movement, he pursued studies in political sciences and he also obtained a doctorate in economics. Following the Iranian Islamist Revolution, he adhered to the Islamist movement. He was responsible for the French Institute of Islamic Studies and he also edited a few journals and magazines. He helped found the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the most important party in the United Iraqi Alliance, and was their representative in Iraqi Kurdistan from 1992 to 1996. After the American Invasion of Iraq, he came back to Baghdad, where he became an alternating member of the Iraqi Governing Council; he then occupied the Finance Minister post in Iyad Allawi’s interim government in 2004. After the outcome of the January 2005 elections, he was the SCIRI’s candidate for Prime Minister in the Iraqi Transitional Government, but he ceded his place to Ibrahim Al Jaafari following some arrangements amidst the United Iraqi Alliance, a Shiite coalition backed by Grand Ayatollah Ali-Al Sistani. Since April 2005 he is the Shiite vice president of Iraq. Mehdi presumes that the origins of the Iraqi crisis are due to different factors, the groups confronting each other in this crisis are the Shiites, the Sunnis and the Kurds. Today, two emergencies must be addressed: first, the protection and cohesion of the Iraqi society, and second, the establishment of a non ethnic political system which would encompass all the different people of Iraq. National Reconciliation aims to achieve these two goals.
Adil Abdel Mahdi is convinced that Federalism must be applied in Iraq and that the Ba’athist party must be excluded from any political role in the future of Iraqi government. These two opinions are at odds with those of the other political leaders. When it comes to the presence of the Allied troops in Iraq, he declares that the decision of invading Iraq was thoughtless, but that in this current state of War, a withdrawal of these troops could create a security vacuum, playing the country into the hands of those employing violence. Moreover he insisted on the importance of making an arrangement between the Iraqi Government and these foreign troops, in order to regularise and limit these troops’ activities and immunities, which would consolidate the sovereignty and independence of Iraq. Mahdi has close ties with Iran and the White House. He frequently acted as a mediator between the Unites States of America, Europe and Iran, regarding the latter’s nuclear research.
Following the second explosion of the Golden Mosque at Samarra on June 13th 2001, Mahdi presented his resignation and protested against the Iraqi Government’s inability to secure the Holy Places and protect the lives of its citizens; however he retracted his resignation under pressure from a few Iraqi and American political leaders. While Finance Minister he obtained some important achievements, especially with regards to the cancellation or reorganisation of the Iraqi debt. He also played an important role in the creation of an International Objectives contract for Iraq.
But although Mehdi would be accepted by the Iraqi Political Parties and other regional and international forces, Iraq has no need for new influential people at the Prime Minister’s desk. What Iraq does need, is a new vision and a new approach to the political process, to help reject the political confessionals, abandon the religious quota system and rebuild a new political system on a national basis, while rooting the Iraqi citizen sentiment and bringing harmony amongst all the Iraqi political leaders.
Can Adil Abdel mahdi meet these Iraqi hopes?
Ahmed Al-Shikaki
Hasni Abidi
Cermam
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- Origin CERMAM
- http://www.cermam.org/en/logs/zoom/adil_abdel_mahdi_an_upcoming_p/
- Publié le 11 October 2007