Ibrahim al-Jaafari
Encyclopedia
Ibrahim abd al-Karim Hamzah al-Eshaiker al-Jafari is an Iraq
i politician who was Prime Minister of Iraq
in the Iraqi Transitional Government
from 2005 to 2006, following the January 2005 election. He was previously one of the two Vice-Presidents of Iraq under the Iraqi Interim Government
from 2004 to 2005, and he was the main spokesman for the Islamic Dawa Party
. He withdrew his nomination for premiership for the permanent government because he disagreed with some of the Kurdish leaders with regards to securing Karkuk as part of Iraq. Some members of his own group, the United Iraqi Alliance, conspired with some of the Kurdish personalities and some of the sectarian Sunni politicians and in turn these groups involved the American President George W. Bush and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair to convince al-Jafari to withdraw his nomination. Al-Jafari refused any foreign inteferance in the Iraqi politics and instead gave the United Iraqi Alliance the choice to decide whom they wanted, be it him or another political figure as Prime Minister. Al-Jafari refused to use force against any political group in society.
. He is a sayyid
(descendant of Muhammad
) and his great grandfather, Sayyid Mahdi bin Sayyid Ali bin Sayyid Baqir al-Eshaiker, led the al-Eshaiker revolt in Karbala in 1876 against the Ottoman Empire
. The Al-Eshaiker family originated from the city of al-Eshaiker in what is now Saudi Arabia
. Jaafari was educated at Mosul
university
as a medical doctor.
in 1968. Upon graduation from school in 1974 he worked actively for the party in Iraq which was trying to overthrow the Ba'athist secular government. He left for Iran
in 1980 and became involved in the movement against Saddam Hussein
there as part of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq where he represented the Islamic Dawa Party. He adopted the name al-Jaafari in exile to protect his family in Iraq from retribution by Saddam. He moved to London
in 1989 where he became the al-Dawa spokesman in the UK
and an important participant in the wider anti-Saddam movement. While in the UK he attended many Iraqi Events giving religious sermons.
but returned to Iraq soon after. He was picked in July 2003 as member of the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council
, and served as its first chairman and Iraq's first post-Saddam interim President
for one month. On 1 June 2004, he was selected to be one of the two vice-presidents in the Iraqi Interim Government
.
He brought al-Dawa into the United Iraqi Alliance
coalition of Shi'ite parties and was second on the party's list after SCIRI
leader Abdel-Aziz Hakim.
challenged him for the position. Chalabi later dropped out of the race, being less than a favourite for a majority of the parties in the UIA, partly tainted by several scandals, thus leaving al-Jaafari unchallenged to become the alliance's candidate for the post. He was designated as Prime Minister on 7 April 2005, following the election of a Presidency Council
the day before. After a long period of negotiations aimed at establishing a broad-based government, he and his cabinet were finally approved by the National Assembly of Iraq
on 28 April.
Despite this win, however, he became increasingly associated with the failure to end the violence in Iraq and to improve services. Because of this, the Sunni, Kurdish and secular groups in the parliament refused to agree to him continuing as Prime Minister, leading to deadlock. His refusal to stand down began to alienate even those who had backed him up to that point, but it is believed that only when Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani intervened that he finally stepped down. The US government had expressed dissatisfaction with him in two months earlier, with George W. Bush
stating that he "doesn't want, doesn't support, doesn't accept" his retention as Prime Minister.
He was succeeded by al-Maliki as Dawa Party secretary-general in May 2007.
. Al-Jaafari is known for being soft-spoken and using flowery language laced with phrases from classical Arabic and literary allusions. Tim Russert
revealed that al-Jaafari's favorite current author is American professor Noam Chomsky
.
. He was formally expelled from the Dawa party as a consequence, and his new party was widely seen as a vehicle for an attempt at regaining power.
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Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i politician who was Prime Minister of Iraq
Prime Minister of Iraq
The Prime Minister of Iraq is Iraq's head of government. Prime Minister was originally an appointed office, subsidiary to the head of state, and the nominal leader of the Iraqi parliament. Under the newly adopted constitution the Prime Minister is to be the country's active executive authority...
in the Iraqi Transitional Government
Iraqi Transitional Government
The Iraqi Transitional Government was the government of Iraq from May 3rd, 2005, when it replaced the Iraqi Interim Government, until May 20th, 2006, when it was replaced by the first permanent government....
from 2005 to 2006, following the January 2005 election. He was previously one of the two Vice-Presidents of Iraq under the Iraqi Interim Government
Iraqi Interim Government
The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the Iraqi Transitional Government was installed following the Iraqi National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005...
from 2004 to 2005, and he was the main spokesman for the Islamic Dawa Party
Islamic Dawa Party
The Islamic Dawa Party or Islamic Call Party is a political party in Iraq. Dawa and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council are two of the main parties in the religious-Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, which won a plurality of seats in both the provisional January 2005 Iraqi election and the longer-term...
. He withdrew his nomination for premiership for the permanent government because he disagreed with some of the Kurdish leaders with regards to securing Karkuk as part of Iraq. Some members of his own group, the United Iraqi Alliance, conspired with some of the Kurdish personalities and some of the sectarian Sunni politicians and in turn these groups involved the American President George W. Bush and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair to convince al-Jafari to withdraw his nomination. Al-Jafari refused any foreign inteferance in the Iraqi politics and instead gave the United Iraqi Alliance the choice to decide whom they wanted, be it him or another political figure as Prime Minister. Al-Jafari refused to use force against any political group in society.
Early life
He was born Ibrahim al-Eshaiker in KarbalaKarbala
Karbala is a city in Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorate, and has an estimated population of 572,300 people ....
. He is a sayyid
Sayyid
Sayyid is an honorific title, it denotes males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali, sons of the prophet's daughter Fatima Zahra and his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib.Daughters of sayyids are given the titles Sayyida,...
(descendant of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
) and his great grandfather, Sayyid Mahdi bin Sayyid Ali bin Sayyid Baqir al-Eshaiker, led the al-Eshaiker revolt in Karbala in 1876 against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. The Al-Eshaiker family originated from the city of al-Eshaiker in what is now Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. Jaafari was educated at Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
as a medical doctor.
Member of Council of Representatives
He joined the Islamic Dawa PartyIslamic Dawa Party
The Islamic Dawa Party or Islamic Call Party is a political party in Iraq. Dawa and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council are two of the main parties in the religious-Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, which won a plurality of seats in both the provisional January 2005 Iraqi election and the longer-term...
in 1968. Upon graduation from school in 1974 he worked actively for the party in Iraq which was trying to overthrow the Ba'athist secular government. He left for Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
in 1980 and became involved in the movement against Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
there as part of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq where he represented the Islamic Dawa Party. He adopted the name al-Jaafari in exile to protect his family in Iraq from retribution by Saddam. He moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1989 where he became the al-Dawa spokesman in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and an important participant in the wider anti-Saddam movement. While in the UK he attended many Iraqi Events giving religious sermons.
Iraq War and the fall of Saddam Hussein
He opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
but returned to Iraq soon after. He was picked in July 2003 as member of the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council
Iraqi Governing Council
The Iraqi Governing Council was the provisional government of Iraq from July 13, 2003 to June 1, 2004. It was established by and served under the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority...
, and served as its first chairman and Iraq's first post-Saddam interim President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
for one month. On 1 June 2004, he was selected to be one of the two vice-presidents in the Iraqi Interim Government
Iraqi Interim Government
The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the Iraqi Transitional Government was installed following the Iraqi National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005...
.
He brought al-Dawa into the United Iraqi Alliance
United Iraqi Alliance
The National Iraqi Alliance , also known as the Watani List, is an Iraqi electoral coalition that contested the Iraqi legislative election, 2010. The Alliance is mainly composed of Shi'a Islamist parties...
coalition of Shi'ite parties and was second on the party's list after SCIRI
Sciri
Sciri may refer to:*Scirii, people*SCIRI, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq...
leader Abdel-Aziz Hakim.
January 2005 elections
Following the January 2005 Iraqi elections the strength of the UIA in the parliament made him a likely candidate to become the nation's new Prime Minister. Only Ahmed ChalabiAhmed Chalabi
Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi is an Iraqi politician. He was interim oil minister in Iraq in April-May 2005 and December-January 2006 and deputy prime minister from May 2005 until May 2006. Chalabi failed to win a seat in parliament in the December 2005 elections, and when the new Iraqi cabinet was...
challenged him for the position. Chalabi later dropped out of the race, being less than a favourite for a majority of the parties in the UIA, partly tainted by several scandals, thus leaving al-Jaafari unchallenged to become the alliance's candidate for the post. He was designated as Prime Minister on 7 April 2005, following the election of a Presidency Council
Presidency Council of Iraq
The Presidency Council of Iraq is an entity currently operating under the auspices of the "transitional provisions" of the Constitution of Iraq and previously under the Transitional Administrative Law....
the day before. After a long period of negotiations aimed at establishing a broad-based government, he and his cabinet were finally approved by the National Assembly of Iraq
National Assembly of Iraq
The Council of Representatives of Iraq is the main elected body of representatives in Iraq. It is currently composed of 325 seats and meets in Baghdad inside the International Zone . It is governed by bylaws that can be found -The monarchy:...
on 28 April.
December 2005 elections
In the national election of December 2005, the UIA once again won the majority of the votes, which according the new Iraqi constitution, gets to pick the Prime Minister. UIA members voted for the Prime Minister with only two main candidates. Al-Jaafari was one and the SCIRI member Adel Abdul Mahdi, a secular economist. Jaafari won the vote only by one (64 - 63). His win was credited to the support of Muqtada Al Sadr's members of UIA, who all voted for him.Despite this win, however, he became increasingly associated with the failure to end the violence in Iraq and to improve services. Because of this, the Sunni, Kurdish and secular groups in the parliament refused to agree to him continuing as Prime Minister, leading to deadlock. His refusal to stand down began to alienate even those who had backed him up to that point, but it is believed that only when Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani intervened that he finally stepped down. The US government had expressed dissatisfaction with him in two months earlier, with George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
stating that he "doesn't want, doesn't support, doesn't accept" his retention as Prime Minister.
He was succeeded by al-Maliki as Dawa Party secretary-general in May 2007.
Personal life
Al Jaafari is married with 5 children (3 girls and 2 boys), all of whom reside in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Al-Jaafari is known for being soft-spoken and using flowery language laced with phrases from classical Arabic and literary allusions. Tim Russert
Tim Russert
Timothy John "Tim" Russert was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Washington bureau chief and also hosted the eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview...
revealed that al-Jaafari's favorite current author is American professor Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
.
National Reform
In May 2008, al-Jaafari launched a new political party called the National Reform TrendNational Reform Trend
The National Reform Trend is an Iraqi political party that was founded in 2008 by former Prime Minister of Iraq, Ibrahim al-Jaafari. It is a Shiite-Islamic-based party....
. He was formally expelled from the Dawa party as a consequence, and his new party was widely seen as a vehicle for an attempt at regaining power.
External links
- Ibrahim al-Eshaiker Official Website
- Ibrahim al-Eshaiker al-Jaafari Arabic biography
- The Man to Heal Iraq Guardian interview in Baghdad 24 February 2005
- Interview with Ibrahim al-Jaafari Der Spiegel interview, 21 March 2005 (in English).
- Jaafari praises Blair and Bush
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