Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Daily News
December 11, 2006
Pg. 8
BAGHDAD— Major partners in Iraq’s governing coalition are in behind the talks to oust Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.
The talks were prompted by Maliki’s failure to quell Iraq’s raging sectarian violence, according to lawmakers involved.
The lawmakers hope to form a new parliamentary bloc that would seek to replace the current government and that would likely exclude supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a vehement opponent of the U.S. military presence.
The new alliance would be led by senior Shiite politician Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who met with President Bush last week. Hakim, however, was not expected to be the next prime minister because he prefers the role of powerbroker, staying above the grinding day-to-day running of the country.
A key figure in the proposed alliance, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, left forWashington yesterday for a meeting with Bush at least three weeks ahead of schedule.
“The failure of the government has forced us into this in the hope that it can provide a solution,” said Omar Abdul-Sattar, a lawmaker from Hashemi’s Iraqi Islamic Party. “The new alliance will form the new government.”
The groups engaged in talks have yet to agree on a leader, said lawmaker Hameed Maalah, a senior official of Hakim’s Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI.
News of the bid to oust Maliki, in office since May, follows a recent leaked White House memo questioning the prime minister’s abilities.
Washington also has been unhappy with Maliki’s reluctance to comply with its repeated demands to disband Shiite militias blamed for much of Iraq’s sectarian bloodletting.
Bush publicly expressed his confidence in Maliki on Nov. 30. But the President told White House reporters four days later that he was not satisfied with the pace of efforts to stop Iraq’s violence.
December 11, 2006
Pg. 8
BAGHDAD— Major partners in Iraq’s governing coalition are in behind the talks to oust Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.
The talks were prompted by Maliki’s failure to quell Iraq’s raging sectarian violence, according to lawmakers involved.
The lawmakers hope to form a new parliamentary bloc that would seek to replace the current government and that would likely exclude supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a vehement opponent of the U.S. military presence.
The new alliance would be led by senior Shiite politician Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who met with President Bush last week. Hakim, however, was not expected to be the next prime minister because he prefers the role of powerbroker, staying above the grinding day-to-day running of the country.
A key figure in the proposed alliance, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, left forWashington yesterday for a meeting with Bush at least three weeks ahead of schedule.
“The failure of the government has forced us into this in the hope that it can provide a solution,” said Omar Abdul-Sattar, a lawmaker from Hashemi’s Iraqi Islamic Party. “The new alliance will form the new government.”
The groups engaged in talks have yet to agree on a leader, said lawmaker Hameed Maalah, a senior official of Hakim’s Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI.
News of the bid to oust Maliki, in office since May, follows a recent leaked White House memo questioning the prime minister’s abilities.
Washington also has been unhappy with Maliki’s reluctance to comply with its repeated demands to disband Shiite militias blamed for much of Iraq’s sectarian bloodletting.
Bush publicly expressed his confidence in Maliki on Nov. 30. But the President told White House reporters four days later that he was not satisfied with the pace of efforts to stop Iraq’s violence.