Posted on 03/05/2006 9:56:07 AM PST by jmc1969
Pressure mounted Sunday on Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to give up his bid for a new term amid anger over a recent surge of sectarian killing that has complicated already snarled negotiations on a new Iraqi government.
The Sunni Arab minority blames al-Jaafari for failing to control Shiite militiamen who attacked Sunni mosques and clerics after the Feb. 22 bombing of the Askariya mosque in Samarra. More than 500 people were killed in the violence, according to police and hospital accounts.
Khalaf al-Olayan, a leader of the main Sunni bloc in parliament, said Iraq has gone from "bad to worse."
"Al-Jaafari's government failed to solve the chaos that followed the Samarra explosions and did not take any measures to solve the security crisis that could have pushed the country into civil war," he said in comments posted on the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front Web site.
Kurds are angry because they believe al-Jaafari is holding up resolution of their claims to control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
"If al-Jaafari tries to form a government, he will not get any kind of co-operation," said Mahmoud Othman, a leading figure in the Kurdish bloc.
The Shiite alliance itself is divided: al-Jaafari won the nomination by a single vote at a Feb. 12 Shiite caucus. Some members are troubled by al-Jaafari's ties to al-Sadr, whose support was key in defeating Vice-President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, the choice of powerful Shiite leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim.
Two legislators from al-Jaafari's Dawa party visited the Shiite holy city of Najaf Saturday to seek the endorsement of Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. They hinted al-Sistani approved of their candidate. But a senior al-Sistani aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the dispute, said the cleric had indirectly suggested al-Jaafari should step aside.
(Excerpt) Read more at nwitimes.com ...
If al-Jaafari gets pushed aside, I expect Sadr will step up rabble-rousing (and worse). Obviously, Sadr needs to go, but it won't be easy or clean. It is a situation that will have to be resolved, and soon.
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