Joel Wing's blog

Contradictory stories are swirling over whether former Interim Prime Minister Ilyad Allawi will join the new Iraqi National Alliance (INA). On Wednesday September 23, 2009 Allawi publicly denied that he had been talking with the National Alliance. The Iraq Pundit Blog also seems to think that the story is all rumors.

While Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said that talks with Syria have gone nowhere over the August 2009 Baghdad bombings, and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani called for an international tribunal to investigate the attacks while at the United Nations in New York City, behind the scenes things actually seem to be making some progress.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki recently went on a short tour of southern Iraq to drum up support in anticipation of the January 2010 parliamentary elections. First he went to Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, on September 10, 2009. He then went to neighboring Dhi Qar province on September 14.

In September 2009 the Oslo Stock Exchange announced that they had investigated DNO International, a Norwegian oil company, for insider trading involving the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami. In October 2008 DNO sold 43 million shares to a then unknown client for $29.7 million.

The Arab press is reporting that former Prime Minister Ilyad Allawi has either agreed to or is in the process of joining the new Iraqi National Alliance (INA) put together by the main Shiite parties such as the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) and the Sadrists. While members of the SIIC are publicly denying it, Allawi has supposedly agreed to join the coalition in return for being their candidate for Prime Minister.

Iraqi political parties and figures continue to make new coalitions and conduct negotiations with each other in preparation for the January 2010 parliamentary elections. The two major coalitions, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law and the new Iraqi National Alliance are both seeking a wide variety of new partners, some completely unexpected, which might engulf the smaller lists.

On August 19, 2009 two large truck bombs struck the Iraqi Finance and Interior Ministries in Baghdad. The Iraqi government was quick to accuse Baathists based in Syria as the main culprits. A taped confession of an alleged member of the bomb cell responsible aired on state-run television accused two Baathists in Damascus as the masterminds.

On September 12, 2009 Iraq’s cabinet sent a draft election law to the Iraqi parliament for the January 2010 balloting. The new law is a revision of the 2005 bill with one major change it includes an open list voting system. In the 2005 elections Iraq had a closed list where voters only got to choose from parties and coalitions. Party bosses selected the actual politicians. In the 2009 provincial elections, Iraq switched to an open list where people were allowed to vote for either lists or candidates.

McClatchy Newspapers got a hold of the Integrity Commission’s 2008 report on corruption in Iraq. The Commission is the top anti-corruption body in the country. The report was deeply critical of Iraq’s ministries and politicians, who were accused of actively stopping investigations.

Iraq’s political parties are moving into high gear looking for partners to run with in the January 2010 parliamentary elections. Some old alliances are being reformed, and new ones are in the process of forming. As before, however, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is at the center of things, and most organizations are thinking in terms of what to do in relation to him.

Sunnis