Iraqi parliament elects speaker

By Mussab al-Khairalla and Ibon Villelabeitia

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – After four-months of deadlock, Iraq’s
parliament convened on Saturday to begin putting together a
government of national unity aimed at averting a slide into
sectarian civil war.

Jawad al-Maliki, a tough-talking Shi’ite leader, was almost
certain to become Iraq’s new prime minister after he was
nominated by the Shi’ite Alliance in a compromise vote that won
initial backing from main Sunni Arab and Kurdish blocs.

But even if Maliki wins confirmation from all parties in a
parliamentary vote to head Iraq’s first full-term government
since the fall of Saddam Hussein, he will face the monumental
task of tackling the insurgency, easing sectarian strife,
dismantling militias and rescuing the economy.

The United States is banking on a national unity government
to Iraq and enable it to start bringing home its more than
130,000 troops.

Legislators elected Sunni Islamist Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a
former medical officer in Saddam’s army who was jailed for
joining outlawed Islamist groups, as speaker. The post had been
widely expected to go to a Sunni Arab.

Meeting for only the second time since December elections,
legislators were expected to elect two-vice presidents and
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, is expected to be
reappointed.

Maliki, an official in Iraq’s oldest Islamist party, sought
to shake off his hardline Shi’ite image and present himself as
a man capable of uniting Shi’ites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.

“We are going to form a family that will not be based on
sectarian or ethnic backgrounds,” he told a news conference.

Maliki was picked by the Alliance on Friday after the
bloc’s original candidate, interim Prime Minister Ibrahim
al-Jaafari, bowed out to end the stalemate, but he offered few
clues on how he will run a country many say is on the verge of
civil war.

“We’ll work on improving the capability and efficiency of
the security forces to take over security,” he said.

If confirmed, Maliki will have a month to form a cabinet
with officials overseeing powerful ministries, including the
interior, defense and oil portfolios, which could also require
difficult negotiations.

Sunni leaders have accused the Shi’ite-run Interior
Ministry of running death squads targeting Sunnis so there may
be a protracted battle over control of that portfolio. Shi’ites
deny condoning death squads.

Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: “It
looks like there’s movement and that’s good news.”

Washington has said the four-month political vacuum in Iraq
was fuelling bloodshed.

TOUGH LINE

Maliki is a tough Shi’ite from the Dawa Party who has
pushed for executing Sunni insurgents who have killed Iraqis
and purging the government of former members of Saddam’s Baath
party. He had been widely viewed as a sectarian politician, but
Sunni Arab leaders said they can live with him.

The support of the Sunni leaders is vital as the insurgents
draw their support from the minority community. Sunnis were
dominant during Saddam Hussein’s rule but the majority Shi’ite
Muslims now hold sway.

“We noticed from his previous statements that he had
sectarian stands. It is wrong to say we should not have fears
about him. But we ask him to learn lessons from the recent
past,” said Hussein al-Falluja, from the main Arab Sunni bloc.

“He has many good traits. During the negotiations on
drafting the constitution he stressed the unity of Iraq and the
need to distribute Iraq’s resources fairly.”

The main Kurdish group has made no comment but independent
Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman welcomed Maliki’s nomination.

Sectarian violence has exploded since the February bombing
of a Shi’ite shrine touched off reprisals and
counter-reprisals.

Police on Saturday found 12 bodies in several parts of
Baghdad. Such killings are common in Iraq, where hundreds of
bodies with bullet holes and torture marks have turned up.

Three years after U.S. forces invaded, Iraqis have grown
disillusioned with Iraq’s political class as bombings,
shootings, kidnappings and crime plague the country.