Tactician or saviour: PM Maliki?
A long profile of PM Maliki by Dexter Filkins in The Newyorker (hat tip to a "lurker" recommendation). Note published in April 2014:http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...urrentPage=all
One associate's description:
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His secret? He is a very intelligent tactician—all politics is short term. He doesn’t have any vision for the state.
Emma Sky, once a senior British civilian adviser to US forces in Iraq:
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Did we just get it wrong with Maliki and Karzai—were we that unlucky? No. Maliki wasn’t like that in the beginning. The whole point of these places—of Iraq especially—is that the leaders need to do political deals. We make them so strong that they no longer need to do political deals. So we undermine any chance at stability. It’s destroying Iraq. We’re strengthening the guy who is creating the problem.
What a great choice made for Iraq in 2006!
Lesson learnt: Do not claim victory?
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies and has a short article in The Spectator, which ends with:
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Western countries and their regional partners should work together to prevent extremist groups like ISIS from establishing long-lasting states. But they also need to recognise this growing boom-and-bust pattern of instability, and work to address it. Not claiming victory too soon might be a start.
Link:http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/...comeback-kids/