Shi’ite rivals say Bush wants Iraq PM Jaafari out

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A senior Iraqi politician from a rival
Shi’ite party to Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said on
Tuesday that U.S. President George W. Bush had made clear he
did not want Jaafari to lead a new government of national
unity.

Bush had written to Shi’ite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
urging him to nominate someone else, Rida Jawad al-Takki, an
aide to Hakim, said in a statement telephoned to Reuters.

Takki said the letter was transmitted by U.S. ambassador
Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been trying to broker agreement among
Shi’ite, Kurdish and Sunni Arab leaders on a unity government.

“George Bush sent a letter via Khalilzad to Abdul Aziz
al-Hakim, as head of the Alliance, telling him that George Bush
does not wish or want Ibrahim al-Jaafari to be prime minister,”
Takki, who is from Hakim’s SCIRI party, said.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy said she was unaware of
such a communication and said it was not U.S. policy to
interfere in the process of forming a government: “This is an
Iraqi decision,” she said.

The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq
(SCIRI) is the biggest party within the United Iraqi Alliance
bloc, which includes Jaafari’s Dawa party.

The Alliance, which won the most seats in parliament after
a December election, has the right to nominate the prime
minister.

Jaafari won the nomination to a second term by a single
vote in an internal ballot of Alliance lawmakers last month,
edging out SCIRI candidate Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Publicly, SCIRI officials say they continue to back
Jaafari. But opposition from minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds to
the interim premier has caused deadlock in talks on forming a
government, more than three months after the election.

Hakim has publicly criticized what he has called U.S.
interference and specifically Khalilzad’s role in Iraq, where
political leaders see him as a key player in negotiations.

But there are indications Shi’ite rivals are ready to try
to drop Jaafari to break the impasse. Iraqi political sources
have also said Washington does not want Jaafari to continue.

The same sources say Jaafari has backing from Iran and note
the crucial support he received in the voting from Moqtada
al-Sadr, an Iranian-backed cleric and militia leader.

Khalilzad is expected to hold talks with Iranian officials
in unusual talks between Washington and Tehran in an effort to
help stabilize Iraq under a national unity government.