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Former Iraqi PM backs Maliki’s war on al-Qaeda

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, former Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari says the “real world war today is the war of terror."
BAGHDAD - NOVEMBER 8:  In this handout image provided by the Iraqi Prime Minister office shows Kurdish leader Masoud Barazani (C) receiving Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) and former Prime Minister and Shiite leader Ibrahim Al-Jaafari (L) on November 8, 2010 at Arbil airport 190 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq. Hosted by Kurdish leader Masoud Barazani, Iraqi political leaders met in Arbil to discuss the formation of the Iraqi government about eight months since the country's parliamentary elections.  (

TEHRAN, Iran — When the coalition invaded Iraq to topple late dictator Saddam Hussein, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a former prime minister and back then one of Iraq’s prominent opposition figures, was one of the few in his camp who opposed the US-led invasion. However, after the fall of Saddam, Jaafari became the first head of his country’s interim governing council that was known to be backed by Washington, and later on he won the 2005 election.

“I’m against any war against my country, I don’t believe in wars,” he told Al-Monitor in Tehran. He said that he’s always a fan of political settlements and that’s why he backs the Iranian-US rapprochement and political solution in Syria, but in Iraq, he backs his successor and former comrade Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s campaign on al-Qaeda-backed groups in Anbar province.

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