Republican lobbyists with close ties to the Bush administration are aiding and supporting the efforts of an Iraqi opposition leader who is calling for the ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.U.S. intelligence sources also have little faith in Maliki, and some Democrats are calling for his resignation, so it's not clear that the effort to remove him is entirely a bad thing, though the idea that there is some non-sectarian individual who can unify the country is probably fallacious, and the search for one could be damaging to the already fragile Iraqi government. The one thing that is completely clear, though, is that the one place Iraq has suceeded in establishing something like national normalcy is inside Washington. Electricity in Baghdad may be down to just two to six hours a day, thanks to the militias that run the electric power switching stations as political power bases, but the Iraqis now have teams of Washington lobbyists, just like the Turks and Israelis.The anti-Maliki crusader is former Iraqi interim prime minister Ayad Allawi, and the Washington firm retained to spearhead U.S.-focused efforts on his behalf is the Republican powerhouse group of Barbour, Griffith, and Rogers (BGR).
BGR International's president is Robert Blackwill, the one-time White House point man on Iraq, holding the title of President Envoy to Iraq in 2003 and 2004....
IraqSlogger has learned BGR's work for Allawi includes the August 17 purchase of the Web site domain Allawi-for-Iraq.com.
In recent days, BGR sent hundreds of e-mail messages in Allawi's name from the e-mail address DrAyadAllawi@Allawi-for-Iraq.com.
Amid growing U.S. and Iraqi frustration with Maliki's leadership and speculation about whether President Bush might welcome Maliki's departure, President Bush made a forceful statement of support for Maliki....
Allawi is not new to the world of Washington lobbyists.
In 2004, while interim Iraqi prime minister, Allawi spent nearly $400,000 with the Washington lobbying firm of Theros and Theros....
BGR has another major Iraqi client: the Kurdistan Regional Government.
--Garance Franke-Ruta
