The End of Iraq (6)

By Peter Galbraith

Bush wanted a yes man, who'd thank him

President Bush had one overriding concern. Iraq's new leaders should be publicly grateful to the United States. As he told Bremer in a May 19 meeting of the NSC, "It's important to have someone who's willing to stand up and thank the American people for their sacrifice in liberating Iraq. I don't expect us to pick a yes man. But at least I want someone who will be grateful." Actually, Bush did want a yes man, and one who would thank him. He made this point three times at the NSC meeting devoted to Iraq's new government.

Meanwhile, Brahimi [U.N. envoy] settled on Hussein Shahristani, a nuclear sci­entist who headed Iraq's Atomic Energy Commission, as his choice for prime minister. Shahristani, a Shiite close to the main Islamic parties, was a man of unquestioned courage and integrity. He had refused to help Saddam develop a nuclear bomb, a stance for which he had been imprisoned in Abu Ghraib prison for eleven years, much of it in soli­tary confinement. That same integrity kept him from promising to de­liver the ingratiating comments about America that Bush wanted. Carrying out the president's instructions, Bremer vetoed Shahristani.
Bremer and Blackwill also vetoed Adel Abdul Mehdi, a talented economist and moderate on matters of religion ...
They also refused Ibrahim Jaafari, the medical doctor ...­
...

Bremer, however, decided the president had to be a Sunni Arab ...
Talabani and Barzani [leaders of Kurdistan] were furious. For more than a year, the American had lectured them about the importance of being Iraqi. Now, they were being told their ethnicity disqualified them from Iraq's top jobs. Insult was added to injury when the Americans and Brahimi chose as Iraq's interim president Sheik Ghazi al- Yawar, a Sunni Arab businessman from one of the country's largest tribes who had no previous political experience. Ghazi met Bush's overriding criteria for Iraq's new leaders. According to Bremer, "the president sent word to me that he'd been fa­vorably impressed by Ghazi's open thanks to the Coalition for over­throwing Saddam."
The End of Iraq, page 142-144.

The End of Iraq - part 1
The End of Iraq - part 2
The End of Iraq - part 3
The End of Iraq - part 4
The End of Iraq - part 5

To be continued...
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