BAGHDAD (AP) — Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister for the past eight years, says he is relinquishing the post to fellow Dawa Party member Haider al-Abadi.
Al-Maliki says his decision is based on his desire to “safeguard the high interests of the country,” adding that he will not be the cause of any bloodshed.
“I will stay a combat soldier to defend Iraq and its people,” he added in the televised address late Thursday, with al-Abadi standing by his side.
Iraq’s President Fouad Massoum named al-Abadi on Monday to form the next government, but al-Maliki had until now refused to step aside.
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Excellent. Obama’s patience in dealing with the ISIS crisis is paying off: had he gone in to help he would have cemented Maliki’s power. Instead he got Iran on board with backing a better candidate. This guy was a real dud.
There are no quick solutions but this is good news. We need to hope that Maliki follows through and saner leadership begins to move Iraq in a positive direction.
Maliki probably thought about what happened to Gaddafi, being dragged around getting a sword shoved up his ass and thought, “Nah, I think I’ll just step down”.
It’s a Bush appointment, of course, dressed up by kangaroo elections.
There’s some tell-all article by the jerk who picked him (name?), just some idiot who had too much power and relatively little knowledge – typical Bush scenario. Maliki was a complete dud from the moment he was appointed, he became Iran hardliners’ most loyal marionette, and he infuriated and enraged minorities who would have been happy to help. All the while, Maliki gave us the finger. 8 horrendous years, another Bush catastrophe.
I feel certain that he extorted a boatload of cash, as well.