THE PUPPET ADVANCES:

Chalabi to Face off Against Al-Jaafari as Shiite Ticket's PM Candidate (Maggie Michael, 2/21/05, Associated Press)

Ahmad Chalabi, a secular Shiite once known for his ties to Washington, and Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the conservative interim vice president, will face off in a secret ballot Tuesday to determine who will be the Shiite majority's choice for Iraqi prime minister, officials said.

The decision to hold a secret ballot came after the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance, which has most of the seats in the 275-member National Assembly, was unable to decide on a nominee - despite days of negotiations.

Chalabi spokesman Haidar al-Moussawi said the most powerful man in predominantly Shiite Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, met with interim Finance Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi in the southern city of Najaf and gave his backing for whatever decision the alliance makes.

"Al-Sistani assured that whoever the alliance will choose, he will agree on him," al-Moussawi said.

If the neocons really do manage to engineer a Chalabi victory maybe they're as smart as they think they are.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 21, 2005 5:39 PM