Editorial: The Marjaiya of Crises

Jalal Talabani proved he is a first-rate active Iraqi citizen. He is the first president to rule Iraq and is Kurd and a Kurdish party leader. Yet he is an active Iraqi citizen who was elected president without cutting off his Kurdish nationality or his post as a Kurdish party leader. As president, he was not driven by his ethnicity, his nationality or by being head of one of the biggest Kurdish parties. He behaved as Iraqi president separate from being Kurdish, federalist or Sunni. He surrounded himself with many diverse advisors, among them two Kurds and a federal consultant. When he faces a problem, he never leans on his partisan or ethnic circles. On the contrary, he opens himself up to all Iraqi groups to grasp the various sides of the problem and to direct ways to solve them. He is highly aware of what is he doing. Talabani has what it takes to be president again.