Iraqis losing confidence in political process
BY DOGEN HANNAH
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - (KRT) - After risking their lives to vote and then watching the political leaders they elected haggle fruitlessly for almost three months, many Iraqis have concluded that their new national assembly is incapable of producing a government that can unify and pacify the country.
On Monday the politicians failed again to negotiate a coalition government, following earlier predictions that they would succeed.
Even when they finally do, the hard part will come after they've formed a government. They'll face daunting challenges to their cohesiveness, and Iraq's Shiite Muslim leaders will have to run a country dangerously close to splintering.
"It is not a national government. It is a sectarian government," said Nuaman al Shamiree, 24, while working at a central Baghdad kebab stand.
Since the Jan. 30 election, Iraq's major political factions have been jockeying for key government positions. Secular and religious, Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni leaders have yet to agree on who should run 31 ministries and serve in the three deputy prime minister posts.
Meanwhile, insurgents have staged a series of bloody attacks after what seemed to be a post-election lull, possibly aiming to take advantage of the political uncertainty. They've attacked military, civilian, Iraqi and foreign targets with coordinated bombings and well-planned assaults.
Bombs have ripped into Shiite neighborhoods and mosques, including two closely timed blasts in Baghdad that killed at least 15 people Sunday night. Shiites and Sunnis have swapped threats and accusations of attacks and reprisals.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has, in recent days, had contacts with a number of Iraqi leaders to discuss the situation, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Monday. She urged Iraqis to speed up their efforts to form a government.
A U.S. Embassy official in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, said increased insurgent attacks in the last two weeks have reinforced the need to fill the political vacuum.
"There's a need to get a transitional government up quickly and get leadership back up in Baghdad," the official said.
The Shiites' reaction to the attacks has so far been restrained, but that might change.
On Monday, in the southern city of Najaf, hundreds gathered for the funeral of 19 Shiite fishermen who were kidnapped and executed in Sunni-dominated western Iraq. The crowd chanted, "Sunnis are the enemy of Allah" and "Where is the government? Where is the law?" Some said they were close to striking back.
"We're waiting for orders from the marjaiya," said Jassim Ubaidi, referring to the council of top Shiite clerics in Iraq, which so far has counseled moderation. "We're more than them (Sunnis) by number and force. We have thousands, and we can respond."
Amid the turmoil, the laborious bargaining to create a governing coalition of political, ethnic and sectarian groups looks like a waste of time to many Iraqis.
"We wanted that election. We had that election. What happened? Nothing," said al Shamiree. "What do we want from the government? We want security and we want jobs."
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