Jafari Puts a New Face Forward

Faced with parliamentary insurrection, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari is doing what politicians have done throughout the ages: He’s going straight to the people.

On a recent television show, a couple pleaded with Jafari for help in caring for their two blind daughters. With equal parts efficiency and benevolence, he immediately promised money and medical treatment.

Overwhelmed by gratitude, the father fainted.

The segment, which aired on state-controlled Al Iraqiya television, is just one of many recent go-getting public appearances by the interim prime minister. Faulted for being ineffectual and lacking in magnetism, the dour Shiite Muslim theologian has lately dominated the media with a show of strength and effectiveness -- even trading his usual crumpled beige outfits for crisp blue suits.

When thousands of demonstrators took to the streets last week after one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines was bombed, Jafari swiftly went on television announcing tougher security measures and the arrest of suspects.

His ostensible popularity among regular Iraqis has received extensive coverage on state TV. Al Iraqiya has broadcast several segments showing Jafari supporters chanting his praises during demonstrations. On a new satellite channel backed by his Islamic Dawa Party, it’s all Jafari all the time.

But these days, it seems, everyone’s a critic.

Anas Rahman, a 28-year-old Sunni Muslim computer engineer from Baghdad, said he was skeptical.

“Jafari is trying to change his appearance to the people,” he said, but the change was superficial. “All the people in the streets are talking bad about him.”

In parliament, it’s not much better.

A bloc of Sunni, Kurdish and secular politicians submitted a letter to the leading Shiite alliance Thursday demanding the withdrawal of Jafari’s nomination as leader of the next government.

Sunnis complained that he was furthering sectarian strife by handing over control of the devastated shrine to the Shiites. Kurds were angry about an ill-timed visit to Turkey, a country they view with suspicion. Both groups complained about his go-it-alone attitude.

“Maybe the point was to show him as a strong leader who makes decisions even if others don’t agree,” said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of parliament. “But he’s not yet the prime minister.”

If Jafari fails to form a government, the job falls to the second-largest bloc, which will then nominate its own prime minister. But he does have support from one key corner: Muqtada Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric, who has recently flexed his political muscle.

When the dominant Shiite coalition nominated Jafari as its candidate last month, the vote highlighted serious fault lines within the alliance, which controls just under half the seats in the new parliament. Jafari was approved by a one-vote margin among the alliance’s 130 members, beating Adel Abdul Mehdi, a secular economist whose style is more direct and outgoing.

By contrast, Jafari resembles Al Gore -- knowledgeable but wooden. An articulate man, he can hold forth for hours.

“He’s the most eloquent of Iraq’s political leaders,” said a Western diplomat in Baghdad. “He can go on TV and speak to people with poetic Arabic.”

But that may not be enough as sectarian strife threatens to tear the country apart. Sunnis, especially, are not won over by him.

“No Iraqis will be fooled by his acts,” said Koudour Ibidi of the Anbar National Front of Iraqi Tribes. “They want a real leader to unite them and to form a national unity government as soon as possible. But rather he appears on TV as if there is nothing wrong.”

Even within the Shiite ranks, skepticism remains.

During recent Friday prayers at the main Shiite mosque in Baghdad, Sheik Jalaluddin Saghir told worshipers of his preference for Mehdi, the other Shiite candidate, because he believed that Jafari was less likely to win the support of parliament.

“I am sure that our brother Jafari will do his best to minimize these difficulties, but these difficulties are not few and not easy,” Saghir said. “Problems cannot be cured with slogans.”

Times staff writers Borzou Daragahi and Suhail Ahmad contributed to this report.