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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament erupted in
acrimony at only its second sitting on Tuesday and
journalists were thrown out after lawmakers berated
leaders for failing to agree on a new government,
two months after historic elections.
When parliamentarians were told that despite
last-minute talks that delayed the session no
agreement had been reached, even on the post of
parliamentary speaker, several stood up to say
leading politicians were letting down the Iraqi
people.
"The Iraqi people who defied the security threats
and voted -- what shall we tell them? What is the
reason for this delay?" Hussein al-Sadr, a
politician in the bloc led by Prime Minister Iyad
Allawi, asked the assembly before the news blackout.
As the meeting grew heated, the interim speaker
ordered journalists to leave and Iraqi television
abruptly switched to Arab music. Allawi walked out
of the session shortly afterwards.
"You can say we are in a crisis," Barham Salih, a
leading Kurdish politician, told reporters.
Ahead of the meeting blasts echoed across central
Baghdad and a militant group said in an Internet
statement it had fired four mortars into the
fortified Green Zone where politicians were meeting.
There were no reports of damage.
Two months after more than 8 million Iraqis braved
suicide bombers and insurgent threats to vote in the
Jan. 30 polls, many are increasingly angry that
despite intensive haggling no agreement has been
reached on forming a government.
"It is a farce," said 30-year-old taxi driver
Mohammed Ahmed Ali. "If they couldn't form a
government till now, how will they lead a country?"
STALEMATE
The mainly Shi'ite Islamist alliance, which holds
just over half the seats, and the Kurdish coalition
that came second in the polls have been arguing for
weeks on a cabinet line-up.
They have been trying also to involve Sunni Arabs,
who dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein but have
been left with little representation because most
voters in Sunni Arab areas stayed away from the
polls due to intimidation and anger.
But no deal has been reached, and several government
officials say the delay has stalled key projects,
deepened chaos and hampered efforts to defeat the
mainly Sunni insurgency.
Political chaos also dents Washington's plans to
increasingly hand over security to Iraqi forces and
cut back foreign troops.
Officials said parliament would meet again to try to
agree a speaker next week, possibly on Sunday.
The Shi'ite Islamist alliance and the Kurdish
coalition have agreed that the speaker should be a
Sunni Arab, to give the Sunni minority more
involvement in politics.
Most of the 17 Sunni Arabs in the 275-member
parliament favour Adnan al-Janabi as their
candidate, but he is an ally of Allawi, a secular
Shi'ite who has so far declined to join the
government, saying his bloc will move into
opposition.
The Shi'ite Islamist alliance is backing Fawaz al-Jarba
-- a Sunni who joined their bloc. But other Sunnis
are against this as he is seen as too close to the
Shi'ite alliance.
Some Sunnis Arabs said that if Jarba was pushed
through as speaker -- which the Shi'ites could do
with their parliamentary majority -- they would walk
out of parliament, leaving attempts to draw them
into politics in tatters.
LONG ROAD AHEAD
Once a speaker is agreed, the National Assembly's
next task will be to elect a president and two vice
presidents. A two-thirds majority is needed for
that, which will mean the Shi'ites and Kurds must
reach a deal to muster enough votes.
The presidential triumvirate will then have two
weeks to choose a prime minister, who will then
appoint a cabinet.
The Shi'ites and Kurds have broad agreement that
Shi'ite Ibrahim Jaafari will be the next prime
minister with veteran Kurdish politician Jalal
Talabani taking the president's post.
But officials have not agreed on the distribution of
cabinet posts. The Kurds are expected to retain the
Foreign Ministry, with the Defence Ministry going to
a Sunni Arab. But the key Oil Ministry is a source
of disagreement -- the Kurds covet it, but the
Shi'ite alliance insists it should get the ministry.
As politicians focused on horse-trading, insurgents
pressed on with their campaign of violence.
Three Romanian journalists -- Marie Jeanne Ion and
Sorin Miscoci of Prima TV and Ovidiu Ohanesian of
Romania Libera newspaper -- were kidnapped in Iraq
on Monday, officials said.
Ion's mother told Romanian television her daughter
sent a text message from her mobile telephone
saying: "We're kidnapped. This is not a joke."
In Kirkuk, a car bomb exploded near an Iraqi army
patrol and the convoy of a local official, killing
one person and wounding 15. In Basra, the head of
the South Oil company survived an assassination
attempt, police said.
Insurgents posted video footage on the Internet
showing them shooting dead three Arab drivers who
said they worked for a Jordanian firm that
transports goods to U.S. forces.
Reuters
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