For spiritual inspiration, Ghazi al-Yawar reflects on the morals and values of his storied roots as a leading member of Iraq's Shamar tribe. But for help with daily life and success in the business world, the interim Iraqi president draws from a more contemporary source: Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, the best-selling leadership and management bible.
'I read books that improve my abilities and capabilities,' he says from the comfort of his newly appointed office last week. 'Sometimes I read history and I spend, like, six months reading history. Then I switch and read geography or psychology, especially women's psychology. I can understand how men think, but I don't know how our better halves think.'
Mr Yawar speaks on his mobile phone and types e-mails while dressed in a white traditional robe or dishdasha and a headdress called a guthra. In many ways, the Iraqi state's new titular head reflects the contradictions of contemporary Iraq, a modern country still gripped by its pious past and tribal heritage.
Almost all members of the now-dissolved Iraqi Governing Council demanded his nomination as president last month over the objections of United States occupation chief Paul Bremer and UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who preferred the more westernised and patrician Adnan Pachachi. Mr Yawar, the council members argued, would be the bridge linking a government led mostly by former exiles to the Iraqi mainstream. Indeed, since his nomination, Mr Yawar has consistently been rated the most popular figure in the interim government.
'Yawar is viewed by the Iraqis as an individual person with strong nationalist credit,' says Abdul Aziz Said, a professor at the American University in Washington. Although himself a Sunni, his tribe includes many Shias, which has bolstered his acceptance among the country's majority sect.
'Among the 25 members of the governing council, he was the only one who was a real Arab,' says Jaffar Saheb Said, an elder at the holy shrine of the Imam Kadhem, a Shia saint, in northern Baghdad.
