Iraq simmers

Iraqi political leaders continued to bicker over key ministerial posts while the country remained in the grip of violence.

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The trial of Saddam Hussein commences in Baghdad (above), even as the suffering of the Iraqi people continues unabated. Iraqi women take part in a funeral procession for two slain followers of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr

If polls were anything to go by, the majority of Iraqis back Prime Minister Nuri Al-Malaki's proposal to dissolve the militias. They are not entirely happy with the performance of politicians and believe that combating "terrorism" and restoring security should be the topmost priority of the new cabinet.

The poll conducted by As-Sabah newspaper, a pro- government publication, reflected the mood among Iraqis during a week in which news about the dispute between Iraqi politicians over ministries dominated the political scene. Meanwhile, the country continued to be gripped by fears as sectarian violence soars.

But it was precisely the issue of security which continued to be the stumbling block before the completion of the new cabinet. On Monday, Iraqi sources close to the negotiations told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Iraqi prime minister had little option but to announce the partial cabinet and temporarily hold control over ministries of interior and defense. "There are so many candidates and the prime minister needs more time because it is very difficult to select from them," the source said. Such a move, however, was likely to face opposition from both the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and the Iraqi Accord Front, the main Sunni bloc in the assembly with 44 seats in the 275-seat assembly.

According to the Iraqi constitution, Al-Malaki is struggling to keep a 22 May deadline when the one month period ends to form the government.

Al-Malaki repeatedly stated that the two ministers should be held by independent figures and not militia leaders. The two portfolios, he explained, were not up for grabs because "they will go to independent figures who are not affiliated to a political party or a militia."

Such a criterion, however, has limited Al-Malaki's options. The past few weeks have been marred by disputes and war of words exchanged between the different Iraqi political parties over securing places in the cabinet. Bahaa Al-Araji, a member of the Sadrist movement, one of the parties comprising the United Iraqi Alliance, the mainly Shia alliance which holds 130 seats in parliament, condemned what he described as US meddling in the selection of cabinet ministers for the defense and interior ministry post.

"Within the past few days, occupation forces have been interfering with certain names and certain posts," Al-Araji said. "There are also blocs participating in the formation of the government that have begun demanding more than what they are entitled to electorally," he added in reference to the Iraqi Accord Front, the biggest Sunni bloc in the assembly.

The past few weeks have witnessed Iraqi political groups of all stripes engaged in round-the-clock negotiations to secure a foothold in the new cabinet. Al-Araji pointed out that while the Kurdish alliance secured the ministers it requested, other political groupings remained empty-handed.

The Iraqi Accord Front has also had tough negotiation with Al-Malaki over its power-sharing demands. Until Monday evening, the Front, in the words of its spokesman Sulayman Al-Jumaily was still engaged in negotiations. The Front demanded to have the ministries of education, health and planning but according to Al-Jumaily did not receive any response to such demands. The Front also demanded that it should be assigned the Ministry of Defense. "If we do not get what we deserve, we will end our participation in the political process," Al-Jumaily told reporters. "Our representatives in parliament, and the officials already awarded ministerial posts will withdraw."

Amid the talks over the cabinet formation, Iraqi analysts warned against what they described as a security and government vacuum whose emerging signs were manifested in Basra this week. During the past few days, the city witnessed an escalation in violence, random killings which forced many citizens to remain at home. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani commissioned Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi to investigate the situation in Basra.

But many Iraqi analysts believe that the situation in Basra as well as in other Iraqi cities is a result of the security and government vacuum in the country. Since the elections last January, the ministries have been in a state of paralysis in anticipation of the cabinet formation and as one Iraqi put it "life has come to a standstill".

Saleh Al-Mutalq, a prominent Sunni politician and head of the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue expressed dismay at the ways in which the cabinet ministers are being selected. "This is a government of national division and not national unity," he told Ashraq Al-Awsat newspaper on Monday. Al-Mutlaq boycotted the talks over the government formation when his request to hold the Foreign Ministry was turned down. The Foreign Ministry, which has since the US occupation of Iraq been an exclusive territory of the Kurds, should be, in Al-Mutalq's words, a tool to strengthen Iraq's ties with the larger Arab and Islamic worlds. In response, Talabani said that Al-Mutalq's statements were "chauvinistic".

A source inside the United Iraqi Alliance disclosed that there are "battles" within the alliance over ministries and that ministries such as finance, oil and commerce are considered a treasure trove.

The wrangling over posts went on as the country continued to be hit by the worst wave of sectarian violence. Some 50 Iraqis have been killed in less than a week. A drive-by shooting killed four teachers who were heading to their school in a village near Balad Ruz, a town northeast of Baghdad, police said. The attackers and the victims were both riding in minibuses, the private vehicles that charge small fees to transport the general public.

In central Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol missed the officers but killed one civilian, wounded four and set fire to an oil tanker parked nearby. Three drive-by shootings and three other roadside bombs in Baghdad and other cities killed six Iraqis and wounded seven, police said.

For the American occupation authorities, it was pretty much business as usual. A raid by US troops in Al-Latifyia which killed 40 people was alleged by the US army to have been part of "rooting out insurgency". But on Monday, the Muslim Scholars' Association issued a statement condemning the raid and accused the US troops of killing 25 Iraqi civilians during its military operations in Al-Latifyia.

"The US forces accompanied by Iraqi police forces have raided a residential area in Shakha village near Latifyia and forced the families and children to take refuge in farms nearby," the statement said. It assigned full responsibility, it added, for the killings of innocent Iraqi civilians to both the occupation authorities and the present government which is held responsible for the atrocious violations the US occupation authorities have committed against Iraqi civilians.