Hajim al-Hassani, a Sunni Muslim with deep ties to America and the Coalition, was elected speaker of Iraqi National Assembly over the weekend.

The 50 year old al-Hassani, earned a Ph. D. from the University of Connecticut in Agricultural and Resource Economics in 1990. He also lived in my hometown of Los Angeles for 12 years. After returning to Iraq following the U.S. led liberation he became the Minister of Industry and Minerals.

It is also interesting to note that al-Hassani was against the war, initially, and that he was part of a Sunni Islamist party. When that party called for a boycott of the election, however, he broke with party ranks.

San Francisco Chronicle:

The Iraqi National Assembly appointed a speaker and two deputy speakers on Sunday, taking the first step, though a largely symbolic one, in installing a new government.

In last-minute deal making on Saturday and Sunday morning, the leaders of the top political parties settled on Hajim al-Hassani, a prominent Sunni Arab and the minister of industry in the interim government, as speaker. They selected Hussain Shahristani, a nuclear physicist and leading Shiite Arab, and Aref Taifour, a Kurd, as the two deputies...

During the formal U.S. occupation and the start of the interim government, al-Hassani was a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a religious Sunni group. But last November, when that party called for withdrawal from the interim government over the government's support for the U.S. invasion of Fallujah, al- Hassani decided to leave the party and continue in his ministerial role.

To Western reporters, al-Hassani puts forth a secular appearance and underscores his time in the United States. But his former ties to the Iraqi Islamic Party indicate that he could support conservative Islamic policies for the new government.

In recent weeks, the main Shiite and Kurdish blocs, which together have more than two-thirds of the assembly seats, have said they want to ensure that prominent Sunni Arabs get significant roles in the new government. Al- Hassani's appointment was a nod in that direction. The Sunnis, who held the bulk of political power in Saddam Hussein's government, make up a fifth of the population and lead the insurgency.

"I think he's well accepted personally, and this acceptance will give him a broad base among the Sunnis, but this does not rule out that there will be opposition among some Sunnis," said Jawad al-Maliki, a deputy leader of the Dawa Islamic Party, a powerful Shiite group whose leader, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, is the top candidate for prime minister.

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