Shi’ite in-fighting delays Iraq govt

By Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Shi’ite in-fighting over who should
head Iraq’s vital oil ministry is delaying efforts by the prime
minister-designate to form a unity government aimed at averting
a slide toward civil war, officials said on Thursday.

Though Nuri al-Maliki has 10 more days to form a
broad-based coalition Washington hopes will foster stability
and allow it to start withdrawing troops, wrangling has
thwarted the no-nonsense Shi’ite Islamist’s plans to announce a
cabinet by this week.

Political sources involved in marathon talks said there was
stiff internal competition in the ruling Shi’ite Alliance over
the powerful oil job and that Shi’ites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds
were locked in disputes on the interior and defense portfolios.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed in two separate incidents
on Thursday when their vehicles were hit by roadside bombs in a
rural area southwest of Baghdad, bringing to at least 2,432 the
number of U.S. soldiers to die in Iraq since the invasion.

Against a backdrop of mounting sectarian violence this
year, factions within the Alliance were wrangling over three
names to head the oil ministry, key to rebuilding Iraq’s
crippled economy, senior negotiators said. The fractious and
unwieldy coalition has a near-majority in parliament.

There was also lack of agreement to fill the sensitive
ministries of interior and defense with figures free of ties to
militias that have flourished in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

Leaders from the Sunni minority — and, more discreetly,
the United States — are demanding the removal of the interior
minister, accused of condoning Shi’ite police death squads.

Political appointments, including that of the president and
the speaker of parliament, are being filled according to a
delicate system of sectarian balance aimed at easing tensions
among Iraq’s competing communities.

Failing to settle on even one minor post could upset Iraq’s
complicated political arithmetic.

“There are talks about the present deputy interior and
deputy defense ministers taking over their ministries in the
interim if no agreement is reached. But Maliki prefers to
announce a full government, a full package,” a senior Shi’ite
source said.

“He still has time and is working on it. But if May 22
comes and there is still no deal he will look into other
options.”

MILITIAS

The United States, which hailed the nomination of Maliki
that ended five months of political deadlock, hopes the
formation of a coalition government will help quell a Sunni
Arab insurgency and allow it to send home some of its 133,000
troops.

Also key to bringing stability to Iraq is dismantling
powerful pro-government militias blamed for many of the
sectarian killings and dumping of bodies that have plagued
Iraq, particularly since the February bombing of a Shi’ite
shrine.

U.S. military spokesman Major-General Rick Lynch played
down as “pure conjecture” comments by Iraqi officials that they
are preparing to unify security forces in the capital to help
rein in the militias. Much will depend on the new government.

Lynch said there had been a spike in attacks on civilians
as political parties inched closer to agreeing a unity cabinet.

“We are indeed concerned about the increased number of
attacks against civilians,” he told reporters.

“If you compare the last 10 weeks to the period of time six
months ago there has been an 80 percent increase in the number
of attacks against civilians,” said Lynch, adding 60 percent of
all casualties were now civilians.

MARKETS

International oil markets are closely watching Maliki’s
nomination for oil minister.

One of the candidates is Thamir al-Ghadhban, a career oil
industry technocrat since the days of Saddam. A secular
Shi’ite, he previously ran the ministry after the U.S.
invasion.

Another frontrunner for the job is Shi’ite Muslim nuclear
scientist Hussain al-Shahristani who was tortured under Saddam
and spent 11 years in prison. Considered too religious for his
post, opponents have accused him of being close to Tehran.

The small Fadhila Party, also part of the Alliance, backed
Hashem al-Hashemi, the present oil minister.

As politicians argued, violence continued.

Four street cleaners were killed and another wounded when a
roadside bomb went off in western Baghdad.

In oil-rich Kirkuk, gunmen ambushed and killed a police
lieutenant colonel, and south of Baghdad police found the body
of a policeman with his hands bound, signs of torture and shot
in the head. In the north, two Iraqi soldiers were killed and
four wounded when a roadside bomb went off near an army patrol.

Insurgents frequently attack the U.S.-trained Iraqi
security forces, which are key to Washington’s plans to
withdraw troops from Iraq as Iraqis take over more security.

(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl)