Iraqi Sunni leader optimistic on united govt soon

By Omar al-Ibadi

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An Iraqi Sunni Arab political leader
said on Tuesday a government of national unity could be formed
soon, raising hopes of a united front to head off a civil war
amid rising violence.

As majority Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders try to forge
a new government months after parliamentary polls in December,
hardline Sunni leader Saleh al-Mutlak said serious differences
remained but a solution could be worked out.

“There are still crucial issues that need attention,” he
told reporters after the latest daily round of talks.

“(But) if there is real political will, there will be a
government within a short period.”

A senior Shi’ite political source said, however, that
little meaningful negotiation had been conducted since Sunday
and would not be for another couple of days because of Shi’ite
anger over a raid on a compound on Sunday by Iraqi and U.S.
forces.

U.S. commanders reject accusations by senior Shi’ite
politicians that Iraqi troops being supervised by Americans
killed up to 37 unarmed worshippers in a mosque. U.S. officials
say 16 gunmen were killed in an office complex.

The United States has been pressing all factions in Iraq to
set aside their differences and urgently form an united
administration to ease sectarian tensions that U.S. ambassador
Zalmay Khalilzad says are killing more people than the Sunni
Arab insurgents fighting U.S.-backed forces.

Shi’ite-Sunni violence has spiralled since the bombing of a
major Shi’ite mosque in Samarra last month.

Militias and death squads from both sides roam the cities
and villages and dozens of bodies, often brutally mutilated,
turn up each day.

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Baghdad police found the bodies on Tuesday of 14 men who
had been shot, execution-style, in the head. Some were also
blindfolded. The identities of the men found in the Hay al-Adil
district in the mainly Sunni west of the capital were unclear.

The sectarian violence and the political stalemate are
increasing pressure on Shi’ite Prime Minister Ibrahim
al-Jaafari to step aside and allow a compromise candidate to
lead the next government, although there is no clear successor.

A senior politician from one of Jaafari’s rival Shi’ite
parties said on Tuesday U.S. President George W. Bush had made
clear he did not want Jaafari to lead a new government.

The U.S. embassy denied any such position and insisted that
Washington would not interfere in Iraqis’ choices.

An associate of Shi’ite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim said the
U.S. ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, had told Hakim on Saturday
that Bush wanted him to nominate someone other than Jaafari.

A Jaafari aide said he too was “aware” of such a message.

“George Bush sent a message 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,”
Rida Jawad al-Takki, from Hakim’s SCIRI party, told Reuters.

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

As by far the biggest group in parliament it has the right
to nominate the premier.

Political sources say SCIRI is considering whether to
unseat Jaafari but does not want to be seen to be breaking
Shi’ite solidarity within the coalition.

One Western diplomat said Takki’s comments on the U.S.
position appeared to be part of that effort, to weaken Jaafari
while highlighting the opposition he faces.

Hakim has publicly criticised 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. Various Iraqi political
sources have said Washington appears to be against Jaafari.