On 9 September 2014, the Iraqi Parliament voted to approve the cabinet proposed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. The latter was immediately congratulated by President Obama, as well as Vice President Biden, who called him from Washington.

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The position of President traditionally falls on a Kurd and that of the Prime Minister on a Shiite.

In November 2013, the incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, relying on his legitimacy after winning the April elections, had challenged Washington and signed an agreement with Tehran for the delivery of Iranian weapons in violation of the US embargo.

From the outset of the IS offensive on Iraq in December 2013, the United States had fingered Al-Maliki as responsible for the debacle. A heated press campaign challenged his policies, which were branded as discriminatory against the Sunnis and the Kurds.

The new Iraqi president, Faud Masum (a Kurdish member of the UPK party led by Jalal Talabani and of the Socialist International) - once elected on July 24 by a qualified parliamentary majority -, decided to appoint Haidar al-Abadi as Prime Minister, overriding the constitutional obligation to designate Nouri al-Maliki in his capacity as leader of the majority party (article 73 of the Constitution).

Mr. al-Maliki tried to have the Constitution respected by force, but was let down by Iran. The Leader of the Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, publicly declared his support for Haidar al-Abadi. This gave rise to a disarray within the Shiite Dawa Party, which in turn abandoned Nouri al-Maliki and agreed to endorse Haidar al-Abadi.

In this affair, Washington trampled on democracy: it managed to force the majority prime minister, who had won the elections in April 2013, to resign and, through an agreement with Iran whose contents remain secret, it managed to impose a new prime minister under its complete control.

Tomorrow, President Obama will thus be able to announce his plan of action the Islamic Emirate in Iraq.