Allawi issues call for unity

BAGHDAD -- Interim prime minister Iyad Allawi warned that without steps toward national reconciliation -- "not by words but by deeds" -- Iraq faces disaster, perhaps falling under the sway of Iran and an austere form of Islamic government that would derail tentative steps toward democracy.

In an interview this week at his heavily guarded government office, Allawi also said he was considering moving to another Arab country after his eight-month tenure ends if he felt the next government would not ensure his security.

"If the objective of national unity is missed, if the objective of national reconciliation is overlooked, then this will definitely spell out disaster," the 60-year-old former exile said.

"If the right decisions are not taken, yes, the country could really head into severe problems," Allawi said at another point in the interview. "I wouldn't put it now at the level of a civil war, but it could be heading really toward severe turbulence."

Allawi made the remarks nearly three weeks after his party placed a distant third in elections for Iraq's 275-member National Assembly. Despite aggressive television advertising, the power of incumbency, and a campaign that portrayed him as both a law-and-order candidate and a secular alternative to Iraq's religious parties, Allawi secured 14 percent of the vote, or 40 seats, far behind the 140 seats won by a largely Shi'ite coalition backed by the country's most influential religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Allawi spoke with little bitterness about the results, which probably will deprive him of a leading role in the next government. He seemed relaxed, almost offhandedly speaking of a plot this week to kill him with several car bombs. He reflected on what he called his greatest accomplishment -- establishing Iraq's security forces -- and the prospect of a dramatic shift in policies he supported, namely reaching out to the disaffected Sunni minority and rehabilitating some former Ba'ath Party officials.

While speaking about the need for national unity, leaders of the winning Shi'ite alliance have publicly stated their determination to revive a campaign to force out former Ba'ath Party officials in government ministries and the security forces.

In conversations with US officials before the Jan. 30 election, alliance leaders had also pledged to adopt a stronger, more aggressive stance in confronting the nearly two-year-old insurgency, which has roiled parts of central Iraq dominated by the Sunni Arab minority. Among the proposals is introducing elements of formerly exiled Shi'ite militias into the security forces.

"The key issue here for Iraqis is national unity and reconciliation," Allawi said. "If this does not happen, then there is no security, there is no safety, for everyone. And then law of the jungle will prevail, rather than the rule of law. . . . It's not the words that matter, it's the actions. It's not the promises. You cannot go and preach and indulge in discussing national unity or reconciliation and then [make] a blanket political decision that you will take revenge on all Ba'athists or all those who were part of the Iraqi Army."

Rehabilitating Ba'athists who, in his words, were innocent of crimes was a pillar of Allawi's administration. Allawi came of age as a Ba'ath Party cadre, worked as an exiled dissident supported by US and British intelligence, and after lying low for much of the occupation's first year, became the surprise choice for prime minister by the US-led occupation in June.