Posted on 03/13/2005 10:47:37 AM PST by jmc1969
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's leading parties said on Sunday they had failed to reach a deal to form a new government before the first meeting of parliament, crushing hopes a much-needed cabinet would start to tackle relentless violence.
"The talks will continue and there are some important points that deserve more discussion," Fouad Massoum, a Kurd and interim parliamentary speaker, said in the northern city of Arbil.
Some of his party's members were less optimistic. Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani's chief aide said: "The negotiations between the two sides have hit a dead end."
Ahmad Chalabi, a top member of the Shi'ite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, returned empty handed on Saturday from a trip to Iraqi Kurdistan to save the proposed Kurdish-Shi'ite alliance which has the two-thirds majority needed to form a government.
"The meetings have collapsed. There was no deal," an aide to Chalabi told Reuters.
ALLAWI CARETAKER ROLE
The standoff plays into the hands of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, whose cabinet could now remain in a caretaker role until a general election due at the end of the year.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Our opinions are not as important as the opinions of all of those people who voted and expect something to get done. I doubt they will be very happy to have gone through that election just to keep Allawi around in a caretaker position. However, I'm sure they'll eventually come to some sort of tenuous agreement. How long that can last is another story.
The real problem with lack of 2/3rds consensus is if it prevents the drafting of a Constitution. I was encouraged when I heard news that the interim (aka CPA pro-western) Constitution would be the basis of the permanent Constitution.
"Our opinions are not as important as the opinions of all of those people who voted and expect something to get done. "
Very good point.
The Iraqi public as a whole doesn't care if it is Allawi or Jaafari. They didn't vote for candidates for PM they voted for party lists. Which is a massive difference from the US system of government. So while the vast majority of Kurds would rather see Allawi then Jaafari as PM it really doesn't matter because they all voted for their Kurdish parties. The Sunni's would also like Allawi to stay on. Right now most Iraqis are blaming the UIA and the Kurds for not coming up with a deal.
-The standoff plays into the hands of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi...-
Plays into the hands? They forgot "...and Bush..." (sarcasm, drip, drip)
I had understood that the long term status of Kirkuk, i.e., whether it is part of Kurdistan, had been one of the previous sticking points in negotiations.
I disagree with that. Now that the election is over and the Iraqi people have had several weeks of seeing Jaafari in the public limelight and have grown accustomed to the idea of him as the eventual PM, he's the guy with the legitimacy. I think a problem is requiring 2/3 of the parliament to form a government. That seems too high a hurdle and isn't very practical. The Shiites have the majority in parliament but can't form a government. The longer this goes on the more likely they are to consider this a rigged game at denying them their power. I don't believe the Shiites will long appreciate being dicated to by the minority Kurds, who have their own legitimate desires.
The Iraqi parliment will chose a new constitution before December and that parliment will chose how elections will be run from now on. I consider it a good thing if the UIA gets boxed out until then, because it will force the Parliment to create a non-Islamic government that will reconize the rights of everyone.
Jaffari vs Allawi doesn't matter, making sure one group can't lord over all the others and set up whatever constitution they want is the point of Bremers rules and as much as I disagree with alot of things Bremer did I do agree with him on that.
It seems odd as hell not being able to vote for the most important position in your government. Seems pretty popular around the world though.
I wonder if they will debate changing that during the Constitutional Convention.
I hope you're right. I'm not as optimistic. All of this positioning and dealing is going in the midst of a guerrilla war, multiple factions that have been held down for years and who are chomping at the bit to after each other, amongst a people not known for patience or moderation.
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