Adil Abdul-Mahdi
| Adil Abdul-Mahdi عادل عبد المهدي | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Oil | |
|
Assumed office 8 September 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Haider al-Abadi |
| Preceded by | Abdul Karim Luaibi |
| Vice President of Iraq | |
|
In office 7 April 2005 – 11 July 2011 | |
| President | Jalal Talabani |
| Preceded by | Rowsch Shaways |
| Succeeded by | Tariq al-Hashimi |
| Minister of Finance | |
|
In office 2 June 2004 – 6 April 2005 | |
| Prime Minister | Ayad Allawi |
| Succeeded by | Ali Allawi |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
1942 Baghdad, Iraq |
| Political party |
Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (1982-present)[1] Iraqi Communist Party (1970s)[2] |
| Religion | Shia Islam |
Adil Abdul-Mahdi al-Muntafiki (Arabic: عادل عبد المهدي المنتفكي, born 1942 in Baghdad, Iraq) is an Iraqi Shi'a politician, economist, and was one of the Vice Presidents of Iraq from 2005 to 2011. He was formerly the Finance Minister in the Interim government.
Abdel-Mahdi is a member of the powerful Shi'a party the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, or SIIC. Long based in neighboring Iran, the group opposed a United States administration while holding close ties with the other U.S.-backed groups that opposed Saddam Hussein, including the Kurds and the Iraqi National Congress.
Background
He is a trained economist who left Iraq in 1969 for exile in France. He worked for French think tanks and edited magazines in French and Arabic. He was educated in France, and is the son of a respected Shiite cleric who was a minister in Iraq's monarchy. He attended high school at Baghdad College, an elite American Jesuit secondary school.
Iraqi Politics
In the 1970s, Abdul-Mahdi was a leading member of the Iraqi Communist Party. The Party split into two separate factions, the ICP-Central Committee, which was more accommodating of the military governments that had ruled Iraq since 1958, and the ICP-Central Leadership, which rejected all forms of cooperation of what it regarded as anti-progressive regimes, in 1967. Abdul-Mahdi joined the ICP-Central Leadership, and continued being active until it gradually disappeared by the early 1980s. By that time, Abdul-Mahdi adopted Iranian Islamic ideas, eventually merging with the Islamists when Ayatollah Khomeini eradicated the communists and other liberal oppositions groups in Iran. Abdul-Mahdi continued his association with Iran and gradually amalgamated his group within the ICP-Central Leadership with the Iranians, rejecting his Marxist past and devoting all his group's time to propagating Khomeini's ideas in France, where he lived at the time. He eventually was made a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, an exiled opposition party and militia that was formed by Iran in Tehran in 1982 but composed exclusively of Iraqi exiles.[3]
In 2006, Abdul-Mahdi, outgoing Vice President in the transitional government, unsuccessfully ran for the United Iraqi Alliance's nomination for Prime Minister against incumbent Ibrahim al-Jaafari. He lost by one vote. He was reportedly considered to be a possibility for Prime Minister once again until Nouri al-Maliki became the UIA nominee. Subsequently, Abdul-Mahdi was re-elected as Vice President of Iraq. He exerted his limited authority in that role by delaying the first meeting of the National Assembly in March. He resigned from his position as vice-president on 31 May 2011.[4]
In December 2006, the Associated Press reported that Abdul-Mahdi could be the next Prime Minister of Iraq if a new multi-sectarian coalition succeeded in toppling the government of Nouri al-Maliki.[5]
In 2009, his bodyguards were involved in a bloody bank robbery in Baghdad. [6]
Assassination attempts
On 26 February 2007, he survived an assassination attempt that killed ten people. He had been targeted two times prior to this latest attack.[7]
References
- ↑ http://www.aljazeera.net/specialfiles/pages/57626ed8-89fd-41ae-b292-58590c6748dd
- ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21745-2005Feb13.html
- ↑ Ismail, Tariq (2008). The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Iraq. Cambridge University Press. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-521-87394-9.
- ↑ Vice President of Iraq resigns
- ↑ Hamza Hendawi; Qassim Abdul Zahra (10 December 2006). "Talks Under Way to Replace Iraq PM". The Washington Post (Baghdad). AP. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/world/middleeast/03iraq.html?pagewanted=all
- ↑ Sly, Liz (27 February 2007). "VP survives assassination try in Iraq". Chicago Tribune (Baghdad). Retrieved 27 December 2012.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Adil Abdul-Mahdi. |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Coalition Provisional Authority |
Finance Minister of Iraq 2004–2005 |
Succeeded by Ali Allawi |
| Preceded by Ibrahim Jaafari and Rowsch Shaways Interim |
Vice President of Iraq Served alongside Ghazi al-Yawer, Tariq al-Hashimi and Khodair al-Khozaei 2005–2011 |
Succeeded by Tariq al-Hashimi and Khodair al-Khozaei |
| Preceded by Abdul Karim Luaibi |
Energy Minister of Iraq 2014–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |