Iraq Shiites scramble for new PM nominee

By Ahmed Rasheed and Mussab al-Khairalla

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s Shiite Alliance hopes to offer
Kurdish and Sunni blocs a new candidate for prime minister on
Friday in a renewed bid to break a deadlock over the formation
of a new government before parliament meets.

The Alliance’s original choice for the job, Ibrahim
al-Jaafari, indicated in a televised speech on Thursday he was
ready to step aside at the request of the bloc after resisting
widespread calls for his resignation for months.

That raised hopes of a deal on a national unity government
Washington hopes can avert a full-scale sectarian civil war and
draw Arab Sunni insurgents into the political process.

The Alliance, which has the biggest bloc in parliament, had
said it would hold a new vote for its nominee but shelved those
plans fearing further delays and opposition again from other
political alliances if they are not consulted first.

“The Alliance wants to agree on a candidate without going
through another vote which could cause further delays,” a
senior member of the bloc told Reuters.

“Once that is accomplished we will try to reach a consensus
with all the other blocs. We don’t have much time so we are
rushing.”

NO CANDIDATE STANDS OUT

Parliament, which has only sat once since December
elections, is due to convene on Saturday, when lawmakers are
expected to start choosing a speaker and a presidential
council, which must then present the nominee for prime minister
for a vote in the assembly.

Although a long-awaited deal on the prime minister is
likely to be hailed as a victory for democracy, no candidate
stands out as a strong, popular leader who can tackle Iraq’s
raging violence and rescue an economy starved of foreign
investment.

The logjam has left some Iraqis with no hope.

“The delay proved that the democratic experience failed in
Iraq. We see many politicians who are actually not fit for any
post,” said Adil Abdulamir, 40, a university professor in
Iraq’s second city of Basra in the mostly Shiite south.

“The core of the problem is not Jaafari himself. The real
issue is that all the alternate figures are lacking the
political experience to run the country.”

The United States is banking on a national unity government
to stabilize the country and enable it to start bringing home
its over 130,000 troops.

Much hinges on the performance of the U.S.-trained Iraqi
forces, who are meant to eventually take over security.

That is not expected anytime soon and sectarian mistrust is
so deep among Iraqis that the Shiite-dominated security forces
are seen as part of a bloody communal conflict, not a solution.

Sectarian carnage has exploded since the February bombing
of a Shiite shrine touched off reprisals and counter-reprisals.
Hundreds of bodies with bullet holes and torture marks have
turned up on streets.

Two bodies were found on Thursday on a desert road between
Qaim and Rutba about 500 km (300 miles) west of the capital,
hospital sources and police said on Friday. Witnesses said the
men were Iraqi contractors working for a U.S. military base.

(Writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Philippa Fletcher)