According to Hayder Al-Khoei who blogs as Eye Raki, that would be Nouri al Maliki. Maliki was in London this past weekend looking to attract investors to Iraq's growing economy and to persuade Iraqi ex-patriots to return and take part in the reconstruction.
'On Saturday evening over 500 Iraqi expats packed the King's Suite in the Hilton Metropole on Edgware Road to listen to PM Maliki and to have a chance to ask him questions face to face. Almost every sect, political ideology and denomination was represented in the hall.
Maliki was pretty impressive, and reminded me of an Arab version of Tony Blair. Although he looked grumpy the whole time, he was calm and confident when he spoke and answered questions. Maliki lacks the charisma of Blair and Obama, but like many other good politicians he has mastered the art of answering a question without really answering it. Sometimes people hear just what they want to hear, and applaud anyway.
Speaking to the professionals living outside Iraq, he urged them to come back and help build up their country. He argued "You say you cannot come back until everything is secure and Iraq is prosperous, but I say Iraq will not be prosperous until you come back and help in the reconstruction effort... It is the chicken or egg dilemma... Of course you will not enjoy the same services you enjoy in the UK or the same salaries, things will be different but you have to make sacrifices because your country needs you"
He added "I appreciate many of you cannot simply lock your houses and leave everything behind, as I did in Syria, and that many of you have children growing up and studying here, but those willing to make the sacrifice can come back with me". He quipped "My plane back to Baghdad is empty" and the crowd applauded at the gesture.
The security was extremely tight, nothing like when Talabani or Hakim were in London, although of course this time half the executive government was sitting in the same room. Security would regularly walk up and down the rows of chairs scanning faces and talking quietly into their microphones.
The only incident of the day happened when a Ba'athist told Maliki "Those who killed and hurt the Iraqi people remain Iraqi". Although technically what he said was correct, it did not go down too well with the crowd, who jeered at him and cut him off. One man got up and tried to confront the Ba'athist but was forced to sit back down. The Ba'athist did the right thing and walked out as soon as he saw the hostile reaction from the people. Maliki did nothing, he just sighed and rolled his eyes.'
Interesting to note that Iraqi ex-pats are far less hostile to American support in Iraq than than many Americans. Maliki was able to attract 300 companies who are willing to invest in Iraq. No mention was made of his success in persuading his displaced countrymen to return.
I wonder how long the invasion of Iraq will be considered the worst foreign policy blunder in American history.
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