Shiite, Kurdish Parties in Bid to Form New
Bloc, Intend to Keep al-Maliki
BAGHDAD, -- Iraq's politicians are
trying to stitch together a new alliance in parliament and government shakeup to
set in motion the adoption of laws believed essential to healing the nation's
wounds and satisfying increasingly strident American demands for action.
Lawmakers and aides familiar with the negotiations said Nouri al-Maliki, the
Shiite prime minister, would remain at the head of the next government. He was
under pressure, however, to broaden the circle of those who make decisions
beyong the handful of fellow Dawa party leaders.
The larger body would include the president and his two deputies, according to
those who spoke to The AP only on condition of anonymity.
The two weeks of secret talks were among Iraq's two largest Shiite parties —
Dawa and the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, or SICI — and the two main Kurdish
parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
The Iraqi Islamic Party, the country's largest Sunni Arab group, has been
approached to join the bloc, along with independent Shiite legislators.
"There are efforts to form a new bloc to get us out of this crisis," said a
senior Dawa Party member familiar with the negotiations. "If it works,
legislation will pass," he said.
Islamic Party lawmaker Salim Abdullah confirmed attempts to build a new "bloc of
moderates," with U.S. approval. He declined to say whether the Islamic Party was
approached to join.
Those who spoke to AP said the 30 lawmakers loyal to radical Shiite cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr and militant Sunni Arab groups in parliament would be excluded.
Sadrist legislators are boycotting parliament to protest the government's
failure to protect an important Shiite shrine north of Baghdad that was bombed
last week for the second time in less than 16 months.
Six cabinet ministers loyal to al-Sadr quit the government in April, and Al-Maliki
has not replaced them.
Al-Maliki spoke this week of a "comprehensive" makeover in government, doing
away to a degree with the sectarian, power-sharing formula that has dictated
power sharing in Irag since Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003.
If formed, the new bloc would command a majority of at least 160 seats, enough
to secure the adoption of draft laws on the equitable distribution of Iraq's oil
wealth, reinstating junior members of Saddam's Baath party to government jobs
and the scheduling of local elections.
Also at stake are constitutional amendments demanded by minority Sunni Arabs.
Adoption of the laws might give the administration of U.S. President George W.
Bush and the American military some of the breathing space they hope the ongoing
security crackdown will provide the al-Maliki government.
Progress in Iraq is desperately sought before reports to Congress next month and
again in September.
