Rice says Maliki is good choice

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice said on Saturday the announcement that Jawad al-Maliki had
been asked to head Iraq’s government was an “important
milestone” and the Shi’ite politician was someone the United
States could work with.

“This is a good day for Iraq. It is an important day for
Iraq,” said Rice in a conference call with reporters.

“This is someone with whom we can work and we are looking
forward to working with him,” added Rice, who personally
traveled to Iraq this month to try and break the deadlock in
forming Iraq’s first full-term government since U.S. forces
toppled Saddam Hussein.

“There is finally going to be a permanent Iraqi
government,” said Rice.

Rice said she had not met personally with Maliki but he was
thought to be a strong figure capable of getting things done.
She described him as an “Iraqi patriot” who was concerned with
Iraq’s sovereignty.

Maliki, an official in Iraq’s oldest Islamist party, now
has one month to form a cabinet and put it to a vote. He has
sought to shake off his hardline Shi’ite image and present
himself as a man capable of uniting Shi’ites, Sunni Arabs and
Kurds.

Rice said there was much work ahead to get the rest of the
Iraqi cabinet in place and the new government would have to
tackle the security situation, particularly in Baghdad.

“It’s a long list but obviously the security situation will
be key,” she said.

Another priority would be to have a Ministry of Interior
the Iraqi people had confidence in and which was filled with
people who were nonsectarian. The Interior Ministry has been
accused of fomenting the sectarian violence that has peaked in
recent months.

She said the United States would work hard to ensure that
the Iraqi ministries became more capable and that oil
production stayed at a level that could support the new
government’s budgetary needs.