November 11, 2008. Copyright 2008, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Can Talabani bring everyone to the table?
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, November 11, Graphic News:  Ever since he became president in 2005, Jalal Talabani has been seen as critical to preserving the delicate ethnic balance in Iraq. Three years on the sectarian strife has calmed but not ceased and for many the wonder is that Talabani is still there at all.

Talabani, the first Kurd to become president of an Arab state, has survived numerous attempts on his life since he took over the largely ceremonial role. No less challenging have been the numerous setbacks to his campaign to keep Sunni support for his mainly Shiite government, and defuse simmering tensions in the northern region of Kurdistan.

But "Uncle Jalal", a charismatic and gregarious leader whose unflagging optimism seems to belie the many difficulties of his role, is nothing if not a shrewd operator, who cut his teeth on the internecine rivalries of ethnic factions in Iraq. As a young politician, he was known for switching sides -- even striking deals with Saddam Hussein -- with dizzying frequency.

Born in 1933 in Kelkan in Kurdistan, Talabani began fighting for Kurdish rights when still a teenager, and he took part in the uprising against the government of Abd-al-Karim Qasim. In 1975 his longstanding differences with Mustafa Barzani, leader of the Kurdish Democratic Party, led him to found a rival group, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

In 1988 when Saddam's government turned poisonous gas on the Kurds, Talabani sought refuge in Iran. He emerged as an ally of the United States in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, and in April 2005 was elected president by the Iraqi national assembly.

Some accuse the immensely wealthy Talabani of corruption, and his government has faced allegations that it tortured Sunni opponents. Whatever the charges, no one is better qualified for his job and few would swap places with him.
/ENDS