Al-Jaafari under pressure

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Sunni Arab and Kurdish politicians increased pressure Sunday on Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to abandon his bid for a new term, while leaders of Iraq’s Shiite majority struggled to overcome growing internal divisions.

Despite the squabbling, there were reports the new parliament would be called into session for the first time as early as the end of the week, starting the clock on a 60-day period during which it would have to elect a president and approve a prime minister and Cabinet.

The struggle to form a broad-based governing coalition acceptable to all the country’s main groups has been further hampered by the surge in sectarian conflict.

Targeted sectarian violence killed at least five people Sunday. Three men died in a gunfight at a Sunni mosque in Baghdad and two relatives of a top Sunni cleric were slain in a drive-by shooting. Sunnis accused deaths squads allied to the interim government, allegations denied by the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry.

The political turmoil has left a leadership vacuum as Iraq’s armed forces, backed by the U.S. military, battle to contain sectarian violence that has pushed Iraq toward civil war.

The Pentagon’s top general said Sunday he did not think a full-blown civil conflict would break out, although he acknowledged “anything can happen.”

“I do not believe it has deep roots. I do not believe that they’re on the verge of civil war,” Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The U.S. government sees a government with participation across Iraq’s communities as a key step toward improving security and weakening support for insurgents.

Under the constitution, the Shiites’ United Iraqi Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament, has the first crack at forming a government and chose al-Jaafari as its nominee for prime minister.

But the Alliance has too few seats to act alone. And it is facing a drive by Sunni, Kurdish and some secular parties that want to prevent al-Jaafari from continuing at the end of the government, favoring instead current Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

Some Shiite leaders are troubled by al-Jaafari’s ties to the radical and openly anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The Sunni Arab minority, meanwhile, blames al-Jaafari for the Shiite militiamen who attacked Sunni mosques and clerics after the Feb. 22 bombing of the shrine in Samarra.