中东－加法里：伊拉克的准领导人

Dr. Ibrahim al-Jaafari: The Man Who May Lead Iraq

After winning a majority of seats in Iraq's new national assembly, the combined Shi'a parties picked their candidate for prime minister: Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who has served in high office since the Americans occupied Iraq.

Dr. al-Jaafari heads the Shi'a Islamic Dawaa Party, which staged a revolt in the 1970's against Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime. An estimated 77,000 of its members were killed before the rebellion ended in 1982. By then, Dr. al-Jaafari had fled Iraq for Iran and later moved to London. He returned to Iraq in April 2003 after Saddam's ouster.

Ibrahim al-Jaafari is described by al-Hayat's Washington bureau chief, Salameh Nematt, as more political than ideological 1. 

Salameh Nematt: He's a moderate Islamist and a shrewd politician. He's capable of building alliances. He does have strong support among Iraqis on a popular level. According to one public opinion poll, he was number one among the candidates.

Phoebe Marr at the U.S. Institute for Peace says Dr. al-Jaafari's inclusive political style reflects the Daawa party's effort to reach far beyond its original base of support. 

Phoebe Marr: He represents a religious party which has always had a strong lay component 2. Its leadership is not necessarily cleric. So there's a certain amount of secularism 4 and willingness to compromise. Daawa also has a reputation of being an Iraqi party not so tied to Iran.

Kurdish political official Qubad Talabani says the Shi'a parties' choice for prime minister faces the daunting 5 task of reconciling Iraq's many factions 6. Mr. Talabani also says that a close Shi'a alliance with the elections' second-biggest winner, the Kurds, would create an effective government.

Qubad Talabani: Ibrahim al-Jaafari is a known quantity to most who are in the Iraqi opposition 7. The question now is whether this gentleman can actually work with the other elements of Iraqi society. The fact that the Shi'a bloc 8, the United Iraqi Alliance, did not get the overwhelming majority that it sought means that the Kurdish bloc can play a pivotal role here.

If confirmed as prime minister, Dr. al-Jaafari will have to reach across many divisions to unify 9 the government and Iraq. A prominent Sunni official, current Iraqi Minister of Industry Hachem al-Hassani, says that the nominee 10 knows the scope of that challenge and the Sunni are not easily reconciled with the Shi'a victory.

Hachem al-Hassani: Dr. al-Jaafari understands that Iraq has three components 11 - Shi'a, Sunni, and Kurd. Besides, he faces a very strong secular 3 group in Iraq. It's not going to be easy to deal with him and the alliance until we have a constitution and we have another election.

Shi'a political official Kareem al-Musawi says the Sunni must be fully 12 involved in the political process to give legitimacy 13 to the incoming government. 

Kareem al-Musawi: The Sunni, we have to build inside the circle, inside the tent, to create an Iraqi consensus 14 in this very crucial time.

There are efforts underway to block Dr. al-Jaafari. A separate bid for prime minister has been launched by Iyad Allawi, who is current interim 15 prime minister and close to the Americans. There is even speculation 16, as noted 17 by al-Hayat's Salameh Nematt, that he might seek the help of a fellow Shi'a politician, the controversial Ahmed Chalabi, to oppose Dr. al-Jaafari.

al-Hayat's Salameh Nematt: Iyad Allawi is trying to portray 18 him as an Islamist who would probably turn Iraq into an Islamist state. Allawi is hoping to split the Shi'a-led Iraqi Alliance. Allawai, who is the nemesis 19 of Ahmed Chalabi might join hands with Chalabi if he feels he can undermine al-Jaafari. Both men hate each other, but they also hate al-Jaafari.

Officially installing Iraq's new prime minister and other leaders is a complicated process. First, the just-elected Transitional National Assembly will meet in March and appoint a three-member assembly leadership. This in turn selects a president for Iraq and two vice-presidents, who become what is called the Presidency 20 Council. The council will officially nominate a prime minister, who must be approved by the National Assembly.

But all of this is only temporary. Once assembly members write Iraq's constitution and get it approved by referendum, another round of elections will be held to fill positions in the permanent government the constitution creates. As both international and Iraqi observers have said, Iraq is a "democracy in progress."

For focus, Jeffrey Young.

注释：

a majority of 大部分

national assembly 国民大会

Shi'a 什叶派

revolt [ri5vEult] n. 反抗，起义

bureau chief 总编辑

opinion poll 民意测验

secularism [5sekjuriz(E)m] n. 现世主义，世俗主义

daunting [dC:ntiN] adj. 使人畏缩的

overwhelming majority 压倒的多数

reconcile with 与……和解

legitimacy [li5dVitimEsi] n. 合法（性）

consensus [kEn5sensEs] n. 一致同意

controversial [7kCntrE5vE:FEl] adj. 争论的，争议的

nemesis [5nemEsis] n. 复仇女神

referendum [7refE5rendEm] n. 公民投票