Iraqis debate impasse on new leader

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Shiite lawmakers met on Sunday, the third anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces, in the first formal step to break the deadlock over Sunni and Kurdish opposition to their choice for a prime minister to head the next government.

But the meeting, held at the insistence of the Shiites’ top clerical leadership, failed to produce any breakthroughs, as Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s key allies stuck by their support for him, according to Shiite officials.

Iraq observed “Freedom Day,” a holiday that commemorates U.S. Marines toppling a statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdous Square on April 9, 2003.

Meanwhile, at least 15 people were killed Sunday, including eight suspected insurgents shot by American soldiers in a pre-dawn raid north of the capital.

Representatives of the seven factions within the United Iraqi Alliance made no final decisions during the Sunday meeting but agreed to form a three-member committee to discuss the crisis with Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties that have opposed al-Jaafari.

Though the Shiites still support al-Jaafari, several names have been floated as possible alternatives as the Shiites face pressure from the U.S. and top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to form the new government.

Late Sunday, the Shiite committee met with Kurdish leaders, who stuck by their insistence that al-Jaafari must go. Kurdish elder statesman Mahmoud Othman said the Kurds made clear they would not participate in a government headed by al-Jaafari.

With al-Jaafari refusing to step aside and his key supporters standing fast, Shiite officials have been reluctant to try to force the prime minister to withdraw, fearing it would shatter their alliance.

A Sunni politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq, proposed that the new prime minister be chosen by consensus among all parties, a proposal the Shiites are unlikely to accept. Al-Mutlaq said the new government should be made up of “independents, nationalists and technocrats” not affiliated with “current political parties.”

The constitution states that the prime minister must come from the ranks of the largest faction in parliament. The Shiites won 130 of the 275 seats in the Dec. 15 election, making them the biggest faction but without enough strength to govern without partners.

Also Sunday, kidnappers threatened to kill two German engineers – Thomas Nitzschke and Rene Braeunlich – seized by gunmen in January in northern Iraq unless prisoners held by U.S. forces are freed.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her government was “doing everything in our power to save the lives of the hostages.”