Looks like the "..real.." Iraqi's are a little fed up with the local and imported arseholes.....!!!
"...Ain't it grand...", when a NEW DEMOCRACY starts to take hold, in place of a schmidty dictatorship...!!!
Iraqi government comes into focus as police arrest 30 insurgents
BAGHDAD : Iraq's winning Shiite and Kurdish political blocs allocated ministries in the first elected post-Saddam Hussein government, while Iraqi police announced the arrest of 30 men implicated in dozens of murders, beheadings and rapes.
The diplomatic rift widened between Amman and Baghdad as Iraq recalled its ambassador to Jordan, amid Iraqi suspicions that a Jordanian carried out last month's massive suicide bombing in Hilla.
On the political front, Iraq's Shiite political juggernaut will take 16 to 17 ministries in the next government, the Kurds will hold seven to eight and the Sunni minority will be awarded four to six, a Shiite negotiator said.
Talks could finish on Wednesday and a session of parliament to reveal the government lineup could convene as soon as Thursday or Saturday, the Shiite side said.
Kurdish sources gave near matching accounts of the next government's shape, although they suggested the parliament might not convene until next week.
The cabinet lineup will solidify the Shiite grip on power nearly two months after some eight million Iraqis voted in national elections.
The turnout, led by Iraq's 15-million strong Shiite majority, came after almost two years of suicide car bombings and assassinations by a Sunni Muslim-based insurgency, embittered by the US-led invasion two years ago which ended their grip on power.
The Shiites will take the interior and finance ministries, along with the cabinet post of national security advisor, said Maryam Rayes, a negotiator with the United Iraqi Alliance, which won 146 seats in the 275-member parliament.
The Kurds, with 77 seats, the second largest bloc in parliament, will receive seven to eight ministries, including the foreign ministry and probably oil, Rayes said, echoing similar reports from a Kurdish source.
Other posts that were locked up for the Kurds included the presidency, to be held by Jalal Talabani, and the post of deputy prime minister, the source said.
The Kurds, who suffered greatly under Saddam, have sought guarantees of their autonomy in the north and recognition of their claims to the ethnically-divided city of Kirkuk.
One complication that could change the allotment of slots is whether outgoing prime minister Iyad Allawi's list decides to join the government, the Kurdish source said.
For her part, Rayes said she thought it was doubtful that Allawi or his followers would join the government.
Iraq's Sunni minority, which largely boycotted the election, would probably be awarded between four and six posts, while the Christian and Turkmen minorities would receive one ministry each, she said.
Both the Shiites and Kurds are keen to ensure the participation of the Sunnis, who have largely powered the insurgency.
Al-Mutumar, the newspaper of secular Shiite politician Ahmed Chalabi, said outgoing Sunni president Ghazi al-Yawar would be the parliament's new speaker and fellow Sunni politician Hajem al-Hassani would serve as vice president.
Concerns abound among Iraqi politicians about whether any single Sunni leader represents the minority group, which has splintered since the fall of Saddam's regime.
Meanwhile, Iraqi police seized last week 30 men linked to terror groups and involved in three beheadings, the rape and murder of three women, and the separate murders of 40 other people, General Adel Molan said on Tuesday.
Some of the men belonged to Al-Qaeda and some to its sister group Ansar al-Islam and were caught in Baladruz, 60 kilometres (45 miles), northeast of Baghdad, the general said.
In the latest indication of the Wild West atmosphere still predominent in large swathes of central Iraq, a full-scale shootout erupted on Tuesday in Baghdad's Dura district.
Shopkeepers in the neighbourhood grabbed their guns and returned fire on three cars from which gunmen were spraying their premises with bullets, defense and interior ministry officials said.
Police and Iraqi national guard joined the melee, the sources said.
Three gunmen were killed and another three arrested, along with six civilians injured, in the sudden clash near the Shiite Sadr mosque, they added.
Separately, the driver of an interior ministry official was gunned down in Baghdad on Tuesday, while a Turkman general died of gunshot wounds in Kirkuk, Iraqi security sources said.
In conflict-riven western al-Anbar province, a US soldier was killed, the military said, without giving further details.
On the diplomatic front, Iraq's ambassador to Jordan, Atta Abdel Wahab, left for Baghdad after being recalled home, an Iraqi foreign ministry official told AFP at the Arab summit in Algiers.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari had earlier told AFP that Baghdad wanted to solve the crisis, which broke out amid Iraqi suspicions that a Jordanian carried out the suicide bombing in Hilla last month that killed 120 people.
In Baghdad, dozens of university student demonstrated Tuesday against Jordan.
- AFP
channelnewsasia.com
. |
