One gets the impression more and more that Republicans – and thus the White House – want to replace al-Maliki. Instead of just criticizing al-Maliki, a lobbying firm owned by Republicans is now calling for al-Maliki’s resignation and wants him to be replaced by Iyad Allawi.
Meanwhile, Bobby Ghosh explains at TIME that there are few good alternatives after Nouri al-Maliki. About Allawi Ghosh writes: “During his brief tenure, he showed little capacity for administration and no political vision beyond his own survival. His government was riddled with corruption and ineptitude, and it was during Allawi’s reign that militias began to infiltrate Iraqi security forces.”
As far as I can remember, Allawi was quite incompetent. Having him replace al-Maliki will not accomplish anything.
In the short term, the only possible solution to the problem is – what some officials already suggest – a military coup. The problem with that is – besides the obvious moral problems – that a dictator might be a friend for a couple of years, but in the end, dictators turn against everybody.
PAST CONTRIBUTOR.