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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (736932)	4/16/2006 7:57:52 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

I bet we can all agree that this delay in getting government functioning in Iraq is a major problem...this "vacumn" as Fox News refered to it, is being filled by frustration internally, and by violence from outside as well as inside players. Something has got to get done here. ________________ Iraq delays parliament over standoff By Mariam Karouny and Ibon Villelabeitia Sun Apr 16, 3:12 PM ET BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi officials postponed a parliamentary session set for Monday, further delaying the formation of a coalition government already held up for four months because of wrangling by political groups. ADVERTISEMENT The postponement came after the ruling Shi'ite Alliance, drawn from Iraq's majority community, proposed a new nominee for prime minister to end a deadlock but opposed the main Sunni grouping's candidate for speaker, raising possible new disputes. Forty-one people, including four U.S. Marines and five insurgents, were killed in weekend violence reported by officials. Washington has blamed the political paralysis for fuelling bloodshed between Sunni Arabs and Shi'ites. Iraqi leaders promised after national elections in December they would deliver stability, but bickering and infighting have so far dashed hopes for a national unity government, widely seen as the best way to avert a slide to sectarian civil war. After four months of resisting Sunni and Kurdish opposition to Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari as its nominee for the top government job, the Alliance put forward Dawa party leader Ali al-Adeeb, officials in the Shi'ite bloc said on Sunday. Although the Alliance has not officially withdrawn Jaafari's name, the new premiership proposal could end the impasse. Parliament's acting speaker Adnan Pachachi signaled hope, saying the postponement would be just for a "few days." Earlier, Pachachi told Reuters failure to seal a deal on top government posts before Monday could delay a new government for at least another month and force parties to choose a parliament speaker, a presidential council and prime minister in stages. FRESH DISPUTES POSSIBLE But Iraqi leaders could be headed for fresh discord over the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front's decision to nominate Tareq al-Hashemi as speaker of parliament. "The Alliance has floated Ali al-Adeeb as its candidate for prime minister. But if the Alliance does not drop its opposition to Hashemi as parliament speaker the parliament session will be delayed," said an Alliance official, declining to be named. Adeeb is not well known in Iraq but political sources said the Alliance opted for him because, unlike other candidates, he was not considered sectarian. Even if political obstacles are overcome, no government will have easy solutions to a Sunni insurgency and sectarian bloodshed that have scared away foreign investors from the oil producer's economy. The months of wrangling have hurt the credibility of Iraqi leaders, who have struggled to keep the country from slipping into civil war since the February bombing of a Shi'ite shrine. Among the latest guerrilla attacks, a suicide bomber in a car killed 13 people and wounded 19 on Sunday near a market in the town of Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad. In another incident, guerrillas killed seven men working for the police department in the northern city of Mosul. The United States has been putting pressure on Iraqi leaders to form a coalition government, which Washington hopes will foster stability and allow it to begin withdrawing troops. Four U.S. Marines were killed in combat on Saturday in western Anbar province, a rebel stronghold. Since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein, more than 2,370 U.S. troops have been killed. The long drawn out trial of Saddam, which began in October, resumes on Monday. The former Iraqi president is facing charges of crimes against humanity stemming from the 1982 killing of 148 Shiite Muslim men and teenagers after an assassination attempt on him in the town of Dujail.

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (736932)	4/16/2006 8:04:22 PM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

You call this peace...it's the worst military blunder since Custer and it's an outright civil war "Efforts to form a unity government suffered a new setback Sunday as Iraqi leaders postponed a parliament session after failing to agree on a prime minister. Bombs targeted Shiites near a mosque and on a bus as attacks nationwide killed at least 35 people. Four more Marines were reported killed in fighting west of Baghdad as the U.S. death toll for this month rose to 47 — compared with 31 for all of March. "