One sign of Iraq's progress toward the stability it seeks is the patience and fortitude Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has shown since he was chosen to lead the government. He persevered for five months until he could complete his cabinet, and in its finished form, his government appears to represent everyone. In this it resembles the government Nawaf Salam formed in Lebanon with great deliberation and a careful understanding of that country's highly complicated situation.
Despite rival approaches and obstruction, Salam's government has held, thanks to moral support and, when it was most needed, material support, much of it from Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Cooperation Council states, each according to its own reading of the situation and of how to manage the Lebanese crisis. The latest of these positions has produced the first hope of a solution to the most intractable of Lebanon's crises: electricity. Easing Lebanese tempers so that crises of every kind can be tackled, electricity above all, will strengthen the government's hand.
The same reassurance has been present in the Kingdom's sustained attention to Iraq's complicated situation, and it produced an unusual scene in the formation of the government. Al-Zaidi's cabinet was hard to complete, because Iran's proxies kept piling on demands that resisted any resolution. He acted with notable skill. He has strengthened ties with Saudi Arabia, as his predecessors in the premiership tried to do, and he has gradually won President Trump's understanding of the situation in Iraq. That understanding has borne fruit in the withdrawal of the American forces that were in Iraq, which has stripped the factions' card of the force it once had.
As someone who follows Iraqi affairs in both their turbulent and their quieter moments, I recall what al-Zaidi said during a visit to Riyadh on October 14, two days after the outstanding portfolios in his government were filled: that his government's position is "firm in not allowing Iraqi territory to be used as a launch pad for any attacks or acts that harm the security of Saudi Arabia and the countries of the region, and in upholding the principles of good neighborliness and respect for the sovereignty of sister states." This unambiguous position was met in kind by the Saudi Crown Prince, who underscored the Kingdom's support for the al-Zaidi government's efforts to strengthen dialogue and bring stability to the region.
Iraqi prime ministers, from Ayad Allawi to Mustafa al-Kadhimi to Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, have kept a tradition of writing an article for Asharq Al-Awsat so that Saudi public opinion can learn their views and positions. Al-Zaidi followed it, preceding his meeting in Riyadh, and the Gulf tour that followed, with an article of his own. Beyond its statement that "Iraq needs a more flexible economy, and it and the Kingdom can found a new phase of rapprochement toward partnership and joint planning," what stood out was its insistence that "Iraq's security and Saudi Arabia's stability form a wider equation for Gulf security and regional stability."
More suggestive still is a sentence hinting at a mission that, if taken up, could bring the region a calm built on firm intentions: "Iraq can play the role of a mediator linking the regional powers through dialogue, and that requires adopting a policy of keeping Iraq out of conflicts." The sentence reflects al-Zaidi's wish to play a part in de-escalation, and in finding a way out of wars that have weighed on everyone without exception. One sign of that role is his statement that "the Iraqi government condemns the targeting of King Khalid International Airport, and all harm done to civilians and civilian organizations during conflicts."
