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Allawi Passes His Initiation
In a scene that rivals a James Cagney/Humphrey Bogart Gangster film, Newsweek Covers Allawi Summary Execution of six detainees days before the "handover" of sovereignty. What? Now that he's proven himself to be a murderer, he join the ranks of War Criminals Bush and Blair.
Source: Newsweek, 2004-07-19
Candidate: TheTIP
Here's the Story:
NEWSWEEK: New Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi Reportedly Cut Off Suspect's Hand With Ax, Shot Captive Terrorists, According to Stories Circulating in Baghdad
' ... I Deny It Categorically, Number One. Number Two, We Will Spare No Effort to Secure Our People,' Says Allawi
NEW YORK, July 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Since Ayad Allawi became prime minister of Iraq's interim government last month, stories circulating on the streets of Baghdad include reports that he ordered two suspected insurgents shot in front of him, shot seven captive terrorists himself and personally chopped off the
hand of a suspect with an ax, report Correspondent Babak Dehghanpisheh and Middle East Regional Editor Christopher Dickey in the July 26 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, July 19).
U.S. officials in Washington tell Newsweek they've heard the amputation story but have no details. White House officials dismiss it as "urban legend."
The Australian newspaper The Age reported last week that two anonymous witnesses saw Allawi shoot seven suspected insurgents as his American bodyguards looked on. Asked by Newsweek if he had killed anyone since taking office, Allawi chuckled and said, "This is a big lie, this is not true, I deny it categorically, No. 1. No. 2, we will spare no effort to secure our people."
After 15 months of chaos, Iraqis are desperate for someone who will impose order, and only weeks after taking office, Allawi is already flirting with dictatorship, report Dehghanpisheh and Dickey. First he suggested elections might have to be postponed if the security situation didn't improve, but he backtracked quickly.
Soon after the June 28 handover of sovereignty to his regime, Allawi's government assumed martial-law powers -- though it has yet to use them. The government also agreed to reinstate capital punishment.
"We need sanctions that are up to the scale of the crimes," Allawi says. Yet no one has been executed so far. "He was so clear to us about his commitment to democracy," says a former U.S. Coalition official. "I don't think anybody thought he was going to be a strongman."
Allawi's concrete accomplishments are few. He's inspired the feeling of progress more than the substance. And U.S. officials say privately he may actually have planted the stories about summary executions as part of a psychological smoke-and-mirrors game.
"He wants to project that dual role -- to the West as a committed democrat, and to the Iraqis as a tough guy who got things done," says one diplomat.
If Allawi is really going to impose order, he'll find it ever harder to look like a democrat. "You can have an overdose of democracy," a young Iraqi translator tried to explain last week to the American colonel he works for.
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