By Ned Parker
Los Angeles Times / February 9, 2008
BAGHDAD - Key partners in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government might seek
the ouster of the Shi'ite Muslim leader if he fails to move quickly on stalled
benchmark reforms and on sharing in decision making.
more stories like thisThreats of a possible parliamentary vote of no confidence
have come in recent weeks from the Kurdish Alliance and the Shi'ite-based
Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Maliki's last major defenders, which, along with
the largest Sunni political party, have suggested Vice President Adel Abdul
Mehdi, a Shi'ite, as a possible alternative.
The parties have told Maliki that he must build an effective ruling coalition.
"If he does not, he will hurt himself and he will hurt Iraq. Then the parties
should seek other options," said Rosh Shawais, a senior Kurdish Alliance leader.
Iraqi leaders, worried that Baghdad could slip back into sectarian war, are
demanding a fast improvement in the government's performance in areas such as
providing services and creating jobs for former Sunni insurgents.
"Whether it will come to a vote of no confidence or not, it remains to be seen,
but the agreed policy, the agreed road map, is that sweeping fundamental reforms
are urgently needed. Otherwise the consequences will be dire," said Deputy Prime
Minister Barham Salih, from the Kurdish Alliance.
In a separate development, the US military said five American soldiers were
killed yesterday in two separate incidents in Iraq. Four soldiers died when
their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device while the troops were on a
combat patrol northwest of Baghdad, the military said.
In violence near Tikrit, another soldier was killed and three others wounded in
an explosion near their vehicle as thy carried out operations in Tamim province,
the military said.
The warnings to Maliki have come in public statements, private communications,
and closed-door meetings since late December, when the Kurdish Alliance accused
him in a letter of running a dysfunctional one-party state.
The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the main ally of Maliki's Shi'ite-run Islamic
Dawa Party, promptly followed with a public rebuke in a sermon yesterday. The
Islamic Party, the largest Sunni grouping in parliament, announced a political
alliance with the Kurds. Faced with a mini-revolt, Maliki held a meeting Jan. 14
with Iraq's three-man presidency council, with which he had feuded since late
summer.
The council - President Jalal Talabani of the Kurdish Alliance; Vice President
Tariq Hashimi, a Sunni from the Islamic Party; and Vice President Abdul Mehdi,
from the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council - presented Maliki a paper sketching
their vision of how the government should be run. Maliki had spurned an earlier
draft in August and had stopped meeting with the council.
The document calls on Maliki to set all national policies in consultation with
the presidency council and to form an efficient technocrat government, slimmed
down from its current size of nearly 40 ministries.
As a guarantee, the skeptical Talabani, Hashimi, and Abdul Mehdi inserted a
clause in the paper that said the presidency reserved the right to call for a
parliamentary vote of no confidence against the prime minister if he failed to
move seriously on reforms or to consult with them.
"We are giving Maliki another opportunity to prove he is very much interested to
change the course," Vice President Hashimi said.
"We have said no problem if you are prepared to make the required reforms. We
don't have any reservations about you staying in power. It's not about
personality; it's about how the country is going to be run. If he fails,
definitely the country will be in need of a replacement," he added.
Supporters of Maliki appear suspicious of the presidency council and reluctant
to cede ground.
"They want to take some authority from the prime minister," said Sami Askari, a
parliament member and part of Maliki's inner circle.
