Prime Minster Nuri al-Maliki announces he will step down. LA Times/Al Iraqiya
Prime Minster Nuri al-Maliki has announced that he will not seek a 4th term. -LA Times. This comes as a great relief since it was feared that political chaos would erupt if Maliki did not step down. The new nominee, Shiite Muslim Haider Abadi faces extreme challenges between ISIS and sectarian divisions. Abadi claims that he will work with Sunni Muslims and the Kurds in the north, but has not yet offered any concrete plans. U.S. and other regional powers hail the decision as a step in the right direction.
My Comment:
Probably the first good news I have heard out of Iraq in quite some time. Maliki had to go and trying to hold on to power would have been a disaster for Iraq. Not only would it push the Kurds and Sunni Muslims further away from the government, it could have resulted in a second civil war. Is Abadi going to be any different? He's saying all the right things but it is way too early to tell. I do not envy his task though... He is going to have a hell of a time convincing people that he's not the next Maliki. Forming a new government is hard under normal circumstances but trying to do so while you have a horde of fundamentalists fanatics carving up your country? Good luck. And I mean it, I want him to succeed.
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