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May 20 (Reuters) -
Iraq's parliament approved on Saturday the country's
first full-term government since the U.S. invasion
in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein.
Here are brief profiles of key figures in the new
government as well as other Iraqi leaders.
GOVERNMENT
PRIME MINISTER NURI AL-MALIKI - Maliki is a
straight-talking Shi'ite Islamist from Dawa, oldest
of the big parties in the dominant United Iraqi
Alliance (UIA) bloc. He spent years in exile in
Syria after being sentenced to death by Saddam's
courts. He says he is ready to reach out to Sunni
rebels and rein in Shi'ite militias. A graduate in
Arabic letters, he was born in 1950.
OIL MINISTER HUSSAIN AL-SHAHRISTANI - A nuclear
scientist jailed and tortured after refusing to
design an atom bomb for Saddam. Shahristani is a
newcomer to an oil industry he must rescue from
corruption and violence. A devout Shi'ite close to
top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, he was
once seen as a potential premier. A deputy
parliamentary speaker in the old government, oil
industry officials question his expertise.
FINANCE MINISTER BAYAN JABOR - Jabor is from the
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI),
the strongest Alliance component. His year as
interior minister has been marred by accusations of
police death squads and recruitment into the police
from SCIRI's armed wing, the Badr movement. An
engineer by training, he was a SCIRI exiled
representative in Syria.
FOREIGN MINISTER HOSHIYAR ZEBARI - An increasingly
recognisable figure on the world stage, the portly
Kurd remains foreign minister, a post he has held
since 2003. Born in the Kurdish north in 1953 and
with a masters in sociology earned in Britain, his
fluent English and easy manner brought him notice as
a spokesman for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)
during the guerrilla campaigns in the mountains
during Saddam's time.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER BARHAM SALIH - Formerly prime
minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan and a close
ally of President Jalal Talabani, Salih has special
responsibility for economy and its reconstruction.
He is well-respected in Washington where he long
represented the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SALAM AL-ZOBAIE - A relative
unknown figure from the Accordance Front, the main
Sunni Arab grouping. He is from a well-known tribe.
His brief includes security.
INTERIOR MINISTER - Vacant. Maliki holding brief for
now.
DEFENCE MINISTER - Vacant. Zobaie holding brief for
now.
OTHER LEADERS
PRESIDENT JALAL TALABANI - A lawyer turned guerrilla
leader against Saddam, he founded the socialist PUK
after breaking with the KDP, long-time standard
bearer of Kurdish independence. The two parties
fought in the 1990s after securing autonomy with
U.S. help. Born in 1933, Talabani is Iraq's first
Kurdish head of state and says he is determined to
hold the country together.
VICE PRESIDENT ADEL ABDUL-MAHDI - Senior member of
SCIRI and former finance minister. French-trained
economist who was a Marxist in his youth, well-liked
in Washington, which views him as more secularly
inclined than fellow Islamists. He was long SCIRI's
choice for prime minister. His brother was
assassinated last year in Baghdad and he has
survived attempts on his life.
VICE PRESIDENT TAREQ AL-HASHEMI - A Sunni with
successful business interests, he heads the Iraqi
Islamist Party, the largest Sunni Arab party and a
major force in the Accordance Front. U.S. officials
see his involvement in politics, after a Sunni
boycott, as a sign Saddam's disaffected and once
dominant minority can be tempted away from open
rebellion.
PARLIAMENT SPEAKER MAHMOUD AL-MASHHADANI - Sunni
Islamist Mashhadani, appointed last month, is a
colourful figure who served in Saddam's army but was
sentenced to death for joining outlawed Islamist
groups. Shi'ites accuse him of being too sectarian
and some are considering trying to replace him. His
bodyguard narrowly survived an assassination attempt
last week.
ABDUL-AZIZ AL-HAKIM - Though eschewing public
office, Hakim is a major power in the Alliance as
head of SCIRI, which he took over when his brother
Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim was killed in a
massive bombing in August 2003. Lacking his
brother's spiritual profile, he is associated with
leading SCIRI's Badr Corps fighters from Iran
against Saddam.
MOQTADA AL-SADR - Populist Shi'ite cleric whose
Mehdi Army militia staged two anti-U.S. revolts in
2004. Long ambivalent about the political process,
he is close to Tehran and controls key ministries.
Unusually young for a clerical leader -- he is about
32 -- his power stems from a family name linked to
revered forebears killed under Saddam and welfare
schemes for the poor.
INFLUENTIAL PLAYERS
GRAND AYATOLLAH ALI AL-SISTANI - A reclusive Shi'ite
voice of religious moderation, wielding huge
influence from the holy city of Najaf. The
white-bearded, Iranian-born cleric steered clear of
politics under Saddam but has emerged as perhaps the
single most powerful man in Iraq. Though in contact
with Iranian clerics, rulers there see him as a
rival religious authority.
ZALMAY KHALILZAD - The Afghan-born U.S. ambassador
is an academic and former Pentagon official close to
neo-conservatives who plotted the overthrow of
Saddam. In 11 months in Baghdad after a similar
nation-building exercise as envoy to his native
Afghanistan, the Sunni Muslim's frankness in
mediating in their disputes has brought him both
praise and criticism from Iraqis.
Reuters
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