Glossary for the interview with Prime Minister Maliki


L. Paul Bremer: Bremer served as the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran the country from end of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003 until June 2004 when Ayad Allawi became Iraq’s interim prime minister. Bremer made several controversial decisions during his tenure. Among them: dismantling the Iraqi Army and removing an Iraqi with ties to Saddam’s Baath Party from government.

Baathist: A Baathist is a member of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, which was formed in the 1945 as a secular Arab nationalist party. It shaped Syrian and Iraqi politics almost immediately after its founding. In today’s Iraq, Baathists are political and armed factions that want Saddam loyalists to return to power.





1920 Revolution Brigade: The 1920 Revolution Brigade is an armed Sunni faction that operates mainly west of Baghdad. It is one of the newer groups to form since the fall of Saddam’s regime. U.S. officials believe they have used bombings and other mass attacks, but the group denies that. The “1920” in the group’s name refers to the successful Iraqi revolution against British colonial rule that year.

Sistani: Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani is the highest-ranking Shiite leader in Iraq and one of the most important figures of the country. Although he is a religious leader, he has quietly guided Iraq’s political process since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. And he has repeatedly asked for Shiites to not respond to attacks against, which many believe curtailed the violence until the Feb. 2006 bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in the Iraqi city of Samarra.