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Iraq Shiites can't agree on prime minister
12.2.2006
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BAGHDAD, Iraq -
Shiite politicians failed to agree on a new prime
minister Saturday, at least briefly delaying a key
step in forming a new government nearly two months
after national elections.
Elsewhere, a U.S. Marine helicopter fired two
rockets into an insurgent hide-out in the western
city of Ramadi, killing six militants, a Marine
spokesman said. Two roadside bombs targeted U.S.
troops in Samarra, injuring one American, the
military said.
The 128 members of the Shiite alliance who won
parliament seats in the Dec. 15 balloting gathered
Saturday in Baghdad to choose a prime minister.
But the vote was postponed for at least a day at the
request of the faction loyal to the anti-U.S. cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr because of differences with another
group, according to Shiites who attended the
meeting.
Shiite officials, speaking on condition of anonymity
because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, said
the al-Sadr faction was leaning toward Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Another Shiite group had doubts about al-Jaafari,
and al-Sadr's lieutenants wanted time to confer, the
officials said.
The disagreement could strengthen the position of
the other major candidate - Vice President Adil
Abdul-Mahdi, a French-educated former finance
minister backed by the country's top Shiite group,
the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in
Iraq.
The choice of the umbrella Shiite alliance is
assured of becoming prime minister because Shiites
won the most parliament seats in national elections.
The alliance, however, is a collection of Shiite
parties and factions with individual agendas, not a
cohesive organization.
The winning candidate will need a simple majority of
the 128 parliamentarians.
After parliament convenes within two weeks, members
must choose the largely ceremonial position of
president. The president then designates the
alliance's choice as the new prime minister, who has
30 days to appoint a Cabinet and win majority
approval in the legislature.
Once the Shiite alliance settles on a prime
minister, it will begin talks in earnest with
parties representing Sunni Arabs, Kurds, secularists
and others to try to form a broad-based government,
which the United States hopes can calm the
insurgency so American and other foreign troops can
begin leaving.
The U.S. hopes the Shiites will offer key posts to
Sunni Arabs, the backbone of the insurgency, so they
will support the government. Two Sunni Arab
alliances won 55 seats in December, a threefold
increase over the outgoing parliament.
An coalition of two Kurdish parties allied with the
Shiites in the outgoing government won 53 seats.
The talks will take place amid rising tensions
between Sunni Arabs and Shiites following months of
reprisal killings.
In Baghdad, a Sunni Arab tribal leader, Sheik Osama
al-Jadaan, said his followers have seized more than
1,400 "terrorists" in a three-month
counterinsurgency operation that began about a month
ago along the Iraq-Syria border.
U.S. authorities have recruited scouts from among
al-Jadaan's tribe in an effort to stop foreign
fighters from infiltrating from Syria.
AP
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