Information AboutAyad Allawi |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT IYAD ALLAWI | |
| 1945 births | |
| living people | |
| iraqi politicians | |
| prime ministers of iraq | |
| iraqi activists | |
| people of lebanese descent | |
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Dr. Iyad Allawi () (born 1945 ) is an Iraqi politician, and was the Interim Prime Minister Of Iraq prior to Iraq's 2005 Legislative Elections . A prominent Iraq i-British Neurosurgeon and Iraqi exile Political Activist , the politically secular Shia Muslim became a member of the Iraq Interim Governing Council , which was established by U.S.-led coalition authorities following the 2003 Invasion Of Iraq . He became Iraq's first Head Of Government since Saddam Hussein when the council dissolved on June 1 , 2004 and named him Prime Minister of the Iraqi Interim Government . His term as Prime Minister ended on April 7 , 2005 , after the selection of Islamic Dawa Party leader Ibrahim Al-Jaafari by the newly-elected transitional Iraqi National Assembly . He continues to lead his Iraqi National Accord 's party in the new Assembly, though its support was weak during legislative elections, and only polled 14 per cent of the vote. A former Ba'athist , Allawi set up the Iraqi National Accord, which carried out bombings in Saddam Hussein's Iraq and is today an active political party. In the lead up to the 2003 Invasion Of Iraq the INA provided intelligence about alleged weapons of mass destruction to MI6 . Allawi has lived about half of his life in the UK and retains British citizenship. His wife and children still live in Britain for their security. He survived an assassination attempt on April 20 , 2005 . Allawi's name is sometimes rendered as Ayad Allawi. ALLAWI'S EARLY LIFE Allawi was born in 1945 to a prominent Shia merchant family; his grandfather helped to negotiate Iraq's independence from Britain, and his father was an Iraqi Member Of Parliament . He became involved in Ba'athism at a young age and organized against the government of Abdul Karim Qassim . In the 1960s, he studied at medical school in Baghdad , where he first met fellow Ba'athist Saddam Hussein . EARLY POLITICAL CAREER In agent for the Iraqis, and he was involved in dirty stuff." A Middle Eastern diplomat confirmed that Allawi was involved with a Mukhabarat "hit team" that killed Baath Party dissenters in Europe. However, he resigned from the Baath party for undisclosed reasons in 1975. {Link without Title} Allawi himself states that he remained active in the international Ba'athist movement but had no ties to the Iraqi Ba'atist party. At first Saddam, then Iraq's deputy president, pressured Allawi, who was in contact with senior military and party officers that were increasingly critical of Saddam, to rejoin the Ba'ath Party. In 1978, friends told Allawi that his name was on a liquidation list. In February 1978 Allawi was awoken in bed one night by an intruder in his Surrey home, who proceeded to attack him with an axe. The intruder left, convinced that Allawi was dead. He survived the attempted murder, and spent the next year in hospital recovering from his injuries. His wife was also wounded in the attack. It is presumed that the attack was an assassination attempt ordered by Saddam Hussein. {Link without Title} THE IRAQI NATIONAL ACCORD While still recovering in hospital from the assassination attempt, Allawi started organising an opposition network to work against the government of Saddam Hussein. Through the 1980s he built this network, recruiting Iraqis while traveling as a businessman and for the UNDP . It is widely believed that he spent much of this period working for British intelligence. In December 1990 , Allawi announced the formation of the Iraqi National Accord (INA). The main sponsors of INA were the British, but they received secret backing from Jordan , Saudi Arabia , Turkey and the United States . The group consisted mainly of former military personnel who had defected from Saddam Hussein 's Iraq to instigate a military coup. Allawi was recruited by the CIA in 1992 as a counterpoint to the more well-known CIA asset Ahmed Chalabi , and because of the INA's links in the Ba'athist establishment. Allawi's INA organised terrorist attacks in Iraq. This campaign never posed a threat to Saddam Hussein's rule, but was designed to test INA's capability to effect regime change. It is estimated to have caused up to 100 civilian deaths. {Link without Title} A military coup was planned for 1996, in which Iraqi generals were to lead their units against Baghdad and remove Saddam Hussein. The CIA supported the plot, code-named DBACHILLES, and added Iraqi officers that were not part of INA. The plan ended in disaster as it had been infiltrated by agents loyal to Saddam. US support was also questionable - requests by the CIA station chief in as well as Andrew and Patrick Cockburn ). {Link without Title} Allawi channelled the report from an Iraqi officer claiming that Iraq could deploy its supposed '' which the British government released in 2002 to gain public support for the Iraq Invasion . In the aftermath of the war, the "45 minute claim" was also at the heart of the confrontation between the British government and the BBC , and the death of David Kelly later examined by Lord Hutton . Giving evidence to the Hutton Inquiry , the head of MI6 Richard Dearlove suggested that the claim related to battlefield weapons rather than weapons of mass destruction. {Link without Title} . POST-SADAAM Allawi was appointed to the Iraqi Governing Council following his return from exile after the fall of Saddam in 2003 , becoming Minister of Defence. He held the rotating Presidency of the interim governing council during October of 2003 . In April 2004, Allawi reportedly resigned as head of the IGC security committee over concerns for US bombing of Fallujah , according to a letter published in INA's newspaper. {Link without Title} In December 2003, he flew to CIA headquarters in was set up in March 2004, its designated director was Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed al-Shehwani, another former Ba'athist exile with ties to INA. Allawi is related to Ahmed Chalabi, another prominent former exile and now disgraced though somewhat rehabilitated U.S. ally, through his sister. The interim minister of trade Ali Allawi is Chalabi's sister's son as well as Iyad Allawi's cousin. The relationship between Chalabi and Allawi has been described as alternating between rivals and allies. In addition, Nouri Badran , interim Minister of Interior, is married to Iyad Allawi's sister.[http://www.agenceglobal.com/Article.asp?Id=144 INTERIM PRIME MINISTER On May 28 , 2004 , he was chosen by the council to be the Interim Prime Minister Of Iraq to govern the country beginning with the United States' handover of sovereignty ( June 30 , 2004 ) until national elections, scheduled for early 2005 . Although many believe the decision was reached largely on the advice of United Nations special envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi , the '' New York Times '' reported that Brahimi only endorsed him reluctantly after pressure from U.S. officials. (In response to a question about the role of the U.S. in Allawi's appointment, Brahimi replied: “I sometimes say, I'm sure he doesn't mind me saying that, Bremer is the dictator of Iraq. He has the money. He has the signature. Nothing happens without his agreement in this country.” Two weeks later, Brahimi announced his resignation, due to "great difficulties and frustration". [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/438248.html ) At the time of his nomination, Allawi was often described in the US mainstream media as a moderate Shia, a member of Iraq's majority faith, chosen for his secular, pro-American views. Later, as military situation in Iraq worsened the death toll increased, coveraged became sometimes less flattering and included descriptions suggesting Allawi was Washington's '' Puppet '' (e.g. Newsweek:"''Iraq's New S. O. B.''" NYT: "''Dance of the Marionettes''" [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/26/opinion/26dowd.html?hp ). The BBC attributes his nomination to being "equally mistrusted by everyone" in Iraq. A secret document written in 2002 by the British Overseas and Defence Secretariat reportedly stated that within Iraq, Allawi was seen as "a western stooge" who "lacked domestic credibility". [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/24/wus124.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/24/ixhome.html On June 28 2004 (two days early), the U.S.-led coalition handed over power to Allawi and the Iraqi Interim Government , who were sworn in later that same day. After his interim government assumed legal custody of Saddam Hussein and re-introduced Capital Punishment , Allawi gave assurances that he would not interfere with the trial and would accept any court decisions. In an interview with Dubai -based TV station Al-Arabiya he said: "As for the execution, that is for the court to decide — so long as a decision is reached impartially and fairly." {Link without Title} On . Mr Allawi reportedly said that the execution was to "send a clear message to the police on how to deal with insurgents". Both Allawi's office and Naqib have denied the report. US ambassador John Negroponte did not clearly deny the allegations. Additionally, the allegations made by ''Sydney Morning Herald'' journalist Paul McGeough went largely unreported by mainstream American media. Iraq's Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin pledged to investigate the allegations against his PM. {Link without Title} The stories were reported to have increased Allawi's reputation in Iraq as they convinced many that he had the fortitude to rule. On July 18 , Iraqi militants offered a $285,000 reward for anyone who could kill Iyad Allawi. {Link without Title} During the summer of 2004, Allawi made several controversial decisions. He announced the creation of and nominated Ibrahim Janabi, a former Ba'athist and Mukhabarat officer, to head the newly created media regulator. He also made moves to eliminate Muqtada Al-Sadr from the scene. {Link without Title} Allawi led the Iraqi National Accord during the January 2005 Iraqi Election . The INA polled a distant third, with 14% of the vote, suggesting a lack of domestic support for Allawi's rule. This was probably due to, among other factors, his past membership in the baath party, numerous allegations of corruption and of financial fraud when he was primeminister(arrest warrents have been issued for ministers in his administration), and a real perception among iraqis, both Shia and Sunni, that he has a somewhat thuggish character, reminiscent of Saddam Hussain. While he has tried to give his 14% bloc influence in the new assembly, at times courting mavericks and independents for support, it is unlikely the INA will be of consequence due to a safely majority coalition between the Shi'a United Iraqi Alliance and Kurdish Democratic Alliance . In the aftermath of the January 2005 elections, in an effort to increase his popularity among the population, ( which reached an all time low when Allawi was humiliated in the Imam Ali shrine, by a group of angry shia who hurled their shoes at him. Later on, in a face saving statement, Allawi claimed that it was an assassination attempt, a claim that brought him much ridicule from Iraqis, Allawi was then declared as the first politician to undergo an assassination attempt by shoes ) Allawi brought together many groups, including Secular Sunni groups, secular Shia groups and the Iraqi communist party Under one electoral list, the Iraqi national list. However, despite a slick advertising campaign ( partly funded by the Americans ), this list was not able to muster enough support in the December 2005 national elections, winning a poor 25 seats in the national assembly, a net loss of 15 seats since the January 2005 elections. As result, his party will probably not be able to have a signigicant impact on the Iraqi political scene. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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