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Political optimism, but 51 killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD - Iraq's president issued a highly optimistic report Friday on progress among politicians trying to hammer out the shape of a new unity government. At least 51 more people, including two U.S. soldiers, were reported dead in rampant violence.

President Jalal Talabani said the government could be in place for parliamentary approval by the end of the month, though he acknowledged "I am usually a very optimistic person." He spoke to reporters after a fifth round of multiparty talks among the country's polarized political factions.

A less optimistic Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, whose nomination by the Shiite bloc for a second term produced the political stalemate, has said a Cabinet list could be ready by the end of April, a full month beyond the Talabani estimate.

Jaafari's nomination has been strongly opposed by Sunni, Kurdish and secular legislators. But in remarks aired Friday on Al-Arabiya television, the prime minister suggested he had no plans to step aside.

The rising death toll among Iraqis on Friday included five worshipers killed in a bombing outside a Sunni mosque after prayers. At least 15 were wounded in the blast in Khalis, northeast of Baghdad, the Iraqi military reported.

Baghdad police said they discovered 25 more bodies, blindfolded, shot and dumped throughout the capital. Retaliatory killings among Shiites and Sunnis have become increasingly common in the capital since the Feb. 22 bombing of an important Shiite shrine that unleashed the rash of sectarian violence.

The two U.S. soldiers were killed in combat in insurgent-ridden Anbar province, the American military reported Friday. The statement said the soldiers, assigned to the 2/28th Brigade Combat Team, were killed Thursday.

Separately, the Iraqi mission to the United Nations said the country has signed two deals for a metering system to track oil and gas flows, a step that could help get its economy back on track and reduce oil smuggling.

Iraq's economy has been severely weakened by oil smuggling to neighboring countries, a problem that could be checked in part by the presence of a metering system. The smuggling has created a fuel crisis that leads to occasional shortages even though Iraq is one of the world's leading producers of oil.

Some experts believe that oil smuggling may be funding Iraq's insurgency.

WASHINGTON - U.S. authorities have arrested an Iraqi-American translator working in Iraq, charging him with offering a bribe to entice a police official to buy armored vests and other equipment for $1-million.

Faheem Mousa Salam, 27, of Livonia, Mich., was arrested Thursday at Dulles International Airport in suburban Virginia, the Justice Department said. Salam is an employee of the Titan Corp., a government contractor working in Iraq.

The Titan Corp. did not immediately comment Friday.

If convicted, Salam faces up to five years in prison and a fine of at least $100,000.

[Last modified March 25, 2006, 01:52:03]