VP Jaafari slams US
Iraqi vice-president Ibrahim Jaafari, a leader of the Shiite al-Da`wa Party, vehemently criticized the US in an interview in El Pais (Spain). He said the US had ridden into Iraq “like “an elephant astride its war machine.” He said it was a mistake to dissolve the Iraqi army and to leave the borders unguarded.
I think if Iraq moves to elections in January, we will see many Iraqi politicians essentially run against the United States. Jaafari could be prime minister if this sort of sentiment proves popular. (The al-Da`wa Party, among Iraq’s oldest and most widespread political parties, will probably do quite well in any elections.