Iraq parliament delayed

Tue., March 7, 2006

Bassem Mroue Associated Press

Americans think Iraq civil war likely

» WASHINGTON – According to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll released Monday, 80 percent of Americans believed that fighting between Sunni and Shiite Muslims made civil war in Iraq likely, and more than a third said such a conflict was "very likely" to occur.

» More than seven in 10 Republicans and eight in 10 Democrats and political independents believed civil war was likely.

» Fifty-two percent of those surveyed said the United States should begin withdrawing forces. But only one in six favored immediate withdrawal of all troops from Iraq.

» The poll found that 56 percent also say the United States is not making significant progress toward restoring civil order in Iraq – the most pessimistic reading on this question since it was first asked in June 2004.

» Washington Post

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq’s president failed in a bid Monday to order parliament into session by Sunday, further delaying formation of a government and raising questions about whether the political process can withstand the unrelenting violence or disintegrate into civil war.

The deadlock came as snipers assassinated Maj. Gen. Mibder Hatim al-Dulaimi, the Sunni Arab in charge of Iraqi forces protecting the capital. A torrent of bombings and shootings killed 25 more Iraqis on Monday, ending a relative lull in violence.

At the heart of the dispute is a controversy over the second-term candidacy of the Shiite prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, whose most powerful supporter is the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The Sunni Arab minority blames al-Jaafari for failing to control the Shiite militiamen who attacked Sunni mosques and clerics after the Feb. 22 shrine bombing in Samarra. Kurds are angry because they believe al-Jaafari is holding up resolution of their claims to control the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

In a bid to force a showdown in the dispute, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, announced he would order parliament to convene Sunday for the first time since the elections in December and the ratification of the results on Feb. 12.

Such a meeting would have started a 60-day countdown for the legislators to elect a president, approve al-Jaafari’s nomination as prime minister and sign off on his Cabinet.

Talabani was mistakenly counting on the signature of Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite, who lost his own bid for the prime minister’s nomination by one vote to al-Jaafari. Talabani had in hand a power of attorney from the other vice president, Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni, who was out of the country.

Abdul-Mahdi declined to sign, at least for now. In an emergency meeting with Talabani on Monday, seven Shiite leaders rejected his demand for them to abandon al-Jaafari’s nomination.

It remained unclear when parliament might convene.

Many of Monday’s attacks targeted the country’s Shiite-led security forces, accused by Sunni Arabs of repeated abuses against them. The government denies the accusations.

In Baqouba, a car bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol exploded near the mayor’s office and a market, killing six people.

Elsewhere, two bombs went off in Baghdad’s notorious southern Dora neighborhood. One targeted an Interior Ministry patrol, killing six Iraqis. A second exploded as a U.S. patrol was passing, wounding five policemen who were guarding a bank and two civilians.

A U.S. soldier was also killed Sunday in insurgency-plagued western Anbar province, the military announced.

Iraq parliament delayed

OJ Simpson never paid the Goldmans the millions he owed them. Can they finally collect?

Bob Graham, former Florida governor and U.S. senator, dies at 87

Republicans scrutinize voting rolls and ramp up for mass challenges ahead of election