Diary

3 January 2009

Peter Oborne opens his diary

Baghdad

Time magazine has dutifully chosen Barack Obama as its Person of the Year. Fair enough — but a much more interesting choice would have been Nouri Al-Maliki, prime minister of Iraq. When I was in Baghdad back at the start of 2008 it was universally held that Maliki was finished. British politicians and officials told me of their profound frustration. Well-informed opinion held that he had no power base and was in any case too weak and irresolute to confront the warlords who then governed large tracts of Iraq. There were vigorous attempts to dislodge Maliki and engineer a more decisive successor. These all failed and Maliki has gone on to prove all his critics, and especially the British, hopelessly wrong. He’s confronted Sunni militias. He’s taken on and apparently defeated the private armies which governed Basra and Sadr City. Most stunning of all, Maliki has comprehensively outwitted the Americans.

I was in Baghdad for the final, frenzied negotiation at the Status of Forces agreement, which sets the terms for US withdrawal. The document that was eventually agreed by the Iraqi parliament bore no resemblance to the one put forward by US diplomats last spring. There is no talk of long-term bases on Iraqi soil, while Maliki now has operational oversight over American military operations. The United States cannot attack any foreign country from Iraqi soil. US contractors, such as the loathsome Blackwater Corporation, must obey local law — surely the reason Blackwater is now, mercifully, pulling out. There is no longer talk of Maliki the pitifully weak prime minister. Instead senior Iraqis fret that he may use the increasingly well-equipped Iraqi army to impose himself as strong man.

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Alan Boyes

January 1st, 2009 10:12pm Report this comment

Peter - Thanks for the story, good to know you and Jim are doing alright. Nothing much is going on lately, though we were very excited over the Holidays and with the SoFA becoming law. Hope all is well, Happy New Years from Ford.

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