Iraq close to formation of new cabinet

The Associated Press
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2006

BAGHDAD Iraq's prime minister- designate said Tuesday that the main stumbling blocks to forming a cabinet had been overcome and that he expects to present his team to Parliament for approval by the end of the week.

The prime minister-designate, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, said representatives of the political parties had agreed on who will head the main ministries and that just a few portfolios remained unfilled. He said discussions were under way on the nominees for the oil, trade and transportation ministries.

The incoming prime minister did not say who would get the key ministries of interior, which controls police, and defense, which runs the army.

U.S. and British officials have insisted that those posts go to people without ties to sectarian militias, which are believed to be responsible for many of the revenge killings of Sunnis and Shiites.

"The direction we took, and which was agreed upon by the political groups, was that the two who will occupy these posts be independent and unaffiliated with a party or a militia," he said at a news conference.

Each minister faces a vote in Parliament, which can give its approval by a majority vote.

Since he was nominated as prime minister last month, Maliki, a Shiite, has struggled to complete the final step in establishing the new Iraqi government.

U.S. officials hope the formation of a unity government will help calm sectarian tensions, lure Sunni Arabs away from the insurgency and eventually allow the withdrawal of some U.S. forces.

But the process has been plagued by ethnic and sectarian tension and attacks by insurgents, and Maliki has been working to balance the conflicting interests of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish legislators.

The Interior Ministry, currently headed by Bayan Jabr, a Shiite, has come under criticism from Sunnis who say that Shiite "death squads" are routinely targeting their community. Sunni Arabs also have jockeyed for key ministries like oil and finance. But those posts had largely been allocated to the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite bloc with the largest number of seats in Parliament.

As for the prominent Foreign Ministry, lawmakers have repeatedly said that this portfolio will remain in the hands of the Kurds, who also hold the presidency.

Brigade deployment delayed

In a sign that senior commanders in Iraq may shortly announce cuts in overall troop levels, the Pentagon has announced that it is indefinitely delaying the deployment of an armored brigade to Iraq, The New York Times reported from Washington.

Pentagon officials said Monday that the decision to hold back a brigade of the 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany, was made because the top commanders in the war zone are still considering whether to recommend troop cuts and it did not make sense to keep to the deployment schedule when such decisions were looming.

"This is a narrow decision for this unit not to begin its deployment as scheduled," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.

A senior Pentagon official said that with Iraqis currently forming a cabinet, General George Casey Jr., the top commander in Iraq, could decide that the conditions were right for troop cuts.

"We're having pretty good traction on the political front, and he's saying, 'Before I send that unit, let me make sure I really want to send them at this time,'" said the senior official, who was granted anonymity to allow him to describe the thinking about decisions on future troop movements.

A decision, which at one point had been expected early this spring, now might come in another five or six weeks, the official said.

The change does not reduce the approximately 133,000 U.S. troops who are serving in Iraq, and officials said that the unit involved could still go if Casey decided he needed a heavy armored brigade.

BAGHDAD Iraq's prime minister- designate said Tuesday that the main stumbling blocks to forming a cabinet had been overcome and that he expects to present his team to Parliament for approval by the end of the week.

The prime minister-designate, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, said representatives of the political parties had agreed on who will head the main ministries and that just a few portfolios remained unfilled. He said discussions were under way on the nominees for the oil, trade and transportation ministries.

The incoming prime minister did not say who would get the key ministries of interior, which controls police, and defense, which runs the army.

U.S. and British officials have insisted that those posts go to people without ties to sectarian militias, which are believed to be responsible for many of the revenge killings of Sunnis and Shiites.

"The direction we took, and which was agreed upon by the political groups, was that the two who will occupy these posts be independent and unaffiliated with a party or a militia," he said at a news conference.

Each minister faces a vote in Parliament, which can give its approval by a majority vote.

Since he was nominated as prime minister last month, Maliki, a Shiite, has struggled to complete the final step in establishing the new Iraqi government.

U.S. officials hope the formation of a unity government will help calm sectarian tensions, lure Sunni Arabs away from the insurgency and eventually allow the withdrawal of some U.S. forces.

But the process has been plagued by ethnic and sectarian tension and attacks by insurgents, and Maliki has been working to balance the conflicting interests of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish legislators.

The Interior Ministry, currently headed by Bayan Jabr, a Shiite, has come under criticism from Sunnis who say that Shiite "death squads" are routinely targeting their community. Sunni Arabs also have jockeyed for key ministries like oil and finance. But those posts had largely been allocated to the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite bloc with the largest number of seats in Parliament.

As for the prominent Foreign Ministry, lawmakers have repeatedly said that this portfolio will remain in the hands of the Kurds, who also hold the presidency.

Brigade deployment delayed

In a sign that senior commanders in Iraq may shortly announce cuts in overall troop levels, the Pentagon has announced that it is indefinitely delaying the deployment of an armored brigade to Iraq, The New York Times reported from Washington.

Pentagon officials said Monday that the decision to hold back a brigade of the 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany, was made because the top commanders in the war zone are still considering whether to recommend troop cuts and it did not make sense to keep to the deployment schedule when such decisions were looming.

"This is a narrow decision for this unit not to begin its deployment as scheduled," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.

A senior Pentagon official said that with Iraqis currently forming a cabinet, General George Casey Jr., the top commander in Iraq, could decide that the conditions were right for troop cuts.

"We're having pretty good traction on the political front, and he's saying, 'Before I send that unit, let me make sure I really want to send them at this time,'" said the senior official, who was granted anonymity to allow him to describe the thinking about decisions on future troop movements.

A decision, which at one point had been expected early this spring, now might come in another five or six weeks, the official said.

The change does not reduce the approximately 133,000 U.S. troops who are serving in Iraq, and officials said that the unit involved could still go if Casey decided he needed a heavy armored brigade.