The ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, told the head of the main Shiite political bloc at a meeting on Saturday to pass on a "personal message from President Bush" to the interim prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, said Redha Jowad Taki, a Shiite member of Parliament who was at the meeting.
Mr. Khalilzad said Mr. Bush "doesn't want, doesn't support, doesn't accept" Mr. Jaafari as the next prime minister, according to Mr. Taki, a senior aide to Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Shiite bloc. It was the first "clear and direct message" from the Americans on a specific candidate for prime minister, Mr. Taki said.
Unless this is a case of bait and paste diplomacy, and it doesn't seem to be, you have to wonder what the hell Bush could possibly be thinking. Now that this has become public, and it was always going to become public, al-Jaafari will have a lot more juice to try to stay on as Prime Minister for the new government. Anyone replacing him would be viewed as a puppet for Bush, and any Minister of Parliament voting for a replacement will be viewed as a pawns.
What's worse, I don't think al-Jaafari had much of a chance of retaining this spot anyway, but now if he is seen as being pushed out by the Bush administration, it will likely set of violence between the Madhi Army and the Badr Brigade as al-Jaafari is backed by Muqtada al-Sadr and Abdul Mahdi, who is the most logical replacement, is backed by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of SCIRI. It should be noted that the US went to al-Hakim with the demand for the removal of al-Jaafari.
Sadr's Madhi Army and al-Hakim's Badr Brigade have fueded for years and this might be the flashpoint that starts an open civil war in Iraq.
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