So what do we know about Iyad Allawi?

Apparently Ayad Allawi is to be the Prime Minister of Iraq from June 30th of this year to January 31st, 2005. He’s consulted with U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi about the make-up of the provisional government’s cabinet. What else do we know from his selection? Josh Marshall doesn’t offer much of a guide:

I continue to think that something very important happened in this selection of Iyad Allawi. Precisely what, though, remains unclear.

Juan Cole thinks that Brahimi preferred an exile who could not use the position to entrench himself in power. However, the BBC reports that Brahimi ain’t exactly thrilled with the selection of Allawi. I can offer zilch in the way of information about Allawi himself. But I do think that the nature of Allawi’s selection contains two interesting nuggets of information. The first comes from Mike Allen and Robin Wright’s Washington Post story about the selection. It suggests the extent to which the Bush administration did not want to be seen as puppetmaster on this one:

In a telephone conversation at 2:30 p.m., a senior U.S. official involved in Iraq policy sounded uncertain about whether Ayad Allawi would head Iraq’s interim government after the United States transfers limited authority on June 30. “We may or may not have heard the last word on the prime minister,” the official said. “You have to put a lot of pieces together first.” A senior administration official in Baghdad said that L. Paul Bremer, the civilian U.S. administrator, and Robert D. Blackwill, the U.S. presidential envoy to Iraq, knew about the impending selection on Thursday. But officials in Baghdad feared a leak and told few officials in Washington. Some members of President Bush’s war cabinet knew where the process was heading but were surprised by the timing of the council’s decision. The administration’s statements were reserved because the United States did not want to appear to be driving the process, officials said, especially because of the country’s past ties with Allawi.

The second nugget of information is that whoever Allawi is, Ahmed Chalabi doesn’t like him. I know this via another Laurie Mylroie mass e-mail, which contained a link to this scathing Al Arab commentary by one Dr. Haifa Al-Azawi. The last paragraph is all you need to read:

These kinds of people can put our U.S. government and our troops in bad positions and in danger. Laura [sic] Myroie, author of “Bush vs. the Beltway,” and critical of the CIA handling of Iraq, blamed Allawi for what she said was faulty intelligence that endangered the U.S. troops at the end of the Gulf War. The United States plans to turn over power to Iraqis by July 1. We are all hoping to see reasonable, honest people in power; we do not want to see another potential Saddam. (emphasis added)

If Mylroie doesn’t like him, Chalabi doesn’t like him. [So does that mean he’s a good choice or a bad one?–ed. My gut says to be mildly pessimistic. The IGC chose him so they wouldn’t be locked out of the next government and the spoils that come with it. There had to have been some serious quid pro quos for Allawi to get the support from the council. My one prediction, therefore, is that some corruption scandal will break between now and January. On the other hand, play the following game — stack the accusations made against Allawi and Chalabi side by side and see if they’re exactly identical or just roughly idential.] UPDATE: Spencer Ackerman has more on Allawi — he’s not a fan (link via David Adesnik).