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Iraq's leaders complete political transition

The prime minister's Cabinet is approved and sworn in, giving the country its long-awaited national unity government.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 21, 2006

Gathering in an auditorium in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, the 275 men and women of the legislature voted Saturday to approve a new unity Cabinet of Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds that the U.S. hopes will one day allow it to send home its troops.

There were some raised voices before a Sunni Arab leader stomped out with 10 of his supporters to protest Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's inability to pick candidates for the key Defense and Interior ministries, but the members taking the 40 posts of the Cabinet were quickly sworn in.

A series of attacks killed at least 33 people, underlining the difficulties lying ahead for a government portrayed by Western officials as the best hope for changing the dynamics of violence in Iraq. Police also found the bodies of 22 Iraqis who apparently had been kidnapped and tortured by death squads that plague the capital and other areas.

Maliki, a Shiite Muslim who spent years in exile in Syria during Hussein's regime, promised that restoring security would be his top priority.

"The first challenge we face is security and how to deal with the terrorist killers who are destroying the country and shedding the blood of the Iraqi people," he said. "Those people should know that this government is designed in a way to effectively face this challenge."

Speaking for 15 minutes, he outlined a 34-point plan to bring security, implement the rule of law and restore basic services like electricity - now available for only four hours a day in the capital.

In a sign of the divisions that held up forming the government, Maliki was unable to fill the top three security posts: defense minister, overseeing the Iraqi army; interior minister, heading the police; and minister of state for national security.

Maliki, 55, said he would be acting interior minister for now, and he tapped his Sunni Arab deputy prime minister, Salam Zikam al-Zubaie, as temporary defense minister. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh, a Kurd, will be acting minister of state for national security.

The new prime minister hopes to fill all three jobs in the coming days with politicians who are independent and have no affiliation with any of Iraq's sectarian militias, which are blamed for the sharp rise in Shiite-Sunni bloodshed that has raised fears of civil war.

President Bush, who is facing rising criticism at home over Iraq, welcomed the new Cabinet and promised continued U.S. help.

"Iraq's new leaders know the period ahead will be filled with great challenge," Bush said in a statement. "But they also know that they - and their great country - will not face them alone. The United States and freedom-loving nations around the world will stand with Iraq as it takes its place among the world's democracies and as an ally in the war on terror."

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad repeated U.S. cautions against expectations of a quick pullout of the 132,000-strong American military contingent. But, he added, "strategically, we're going to be moving in the direction of downsizing our forces."

Although Iraq has reached the final stage in the political transition promised by the United States after Hussein's ouster in 2003, its leaders have yet to resolve the core security issues.

In Saturday's deadliest assault, 19 people died and 58 were injured when a bomb hidden in a paper bag exploded in Baghdad's Sadr City district next to a line of day laborers waiting for work.

Police also found the bodies of 22 people who apparently had been kidnapped and tortured, six in Baghdad, 15 in the southern city of Musayyib and one in nearby Hafriya. All appeared to be victims of death squads that have killed hundreds in sectarian violence, personal vendettas and kidnappings for ransom.

[Last modified May 21, 2006, 07:42:08]