Republican Lobby Firm BGR Undercuts Iraqi Leader al-Maliki

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"Republican lobbyists with close ties to the Bush administration are aiding and supporting the efforts of an Iraqi opposition leader who is calling for the ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki," reports IraqSlogger. On behalf of former prime minister Ayad Allawi, the firm Barbour, Griffith and Rogers purchased the website domain Allawi-for-Iraq.com and sent "hundreds of email messages in Allawi's name" to Congressional staffers and others in Washington. The emails included copies of a Washington Post op/ed by Allawi in which he wrote "there will be no lasting political reconcilitation under Maliki's sectarian regime" and "Maliki has squandered Iraq's credibility in Arab politics, and he cannot restore it." The firm's international president, Robert Blackwill, was Bush's Presidential Envoy to Iraq in 2004, when Allawi was in power. Barbour Griffith, and Rogers also works for the Kurdistan Regional Government.