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Iraq swears in new government { May 20 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/14629228.htmhttp://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/14629228.htm
Posted on Sat, May. 20, 2006
Iraq swears in new government
By Leila Fadel
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq Saturday swore in its first permanent government since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, a move the Bush administration hopes will lead to eventual stability and the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
But even as Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki and his cabinet were approved by parliament, violence coursed through Baghdad, and the ministries most responsible for security were still without permanent leaders, the result of continued political stalemate.
Al Maliki pledged to choose independent candidates without connections to militias to run the ministries of interior, defense and state national security. He said it could take up to a week. In the meantime, al Maliki, a Shiite, will oversee the interior ministry, and his two deputy prime ministers, one a Sunni, the other a Kurd, will be acting defense minister and minister of state for national security.
The formation of even an incomplete cabinet was a major step for Iraq in its transition to democracy. Since the end of Saddam's regime, Iraq has been governed by an interim U.S. authority, a U.S.-appointed interim government and a transitional elected government whose primary responsibility was writing a new constitution and holding elections last Dec. 15 for permanent leaders. Al Maliki and his cabinet will serve for four years under Iraq's current constitution.
President Bush hailed the installation of the new government. "The United States and freedom-loving nations around the world will stand with Iraq as it takes its place among the world's democracies and as an ally in the war on terror," Bush said in a statement.
But as Iraqi politicians congratulated each other on their success, at least 22 people were killed in an explosion at a Baghdad gas station and at least 17 corpses were discovered around the city, the result of ongoing religious violence.
Maliki pledged to bring "a solid determination and invincible iron will" to unify Iraqis against the perpetrators of violence and said he would set a timetable under which Iraqi forces would take over from U.S. troops and their allies.
"What happened in the assembly represents the end of Iraq's political transition that began in April 2003 from the American administration under occupation, to a democratically elected Iraqi government," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said. "We have a lot at stake in terms of Iraq's success. That's no secret."
Iraq's new government will have 38 cabinet officers, not including the unnamed security ministers or al Maliki.
The Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, which holds about 130 of the 275 seats in parliament, took 18 ministries. The Kurds, the second largest political bloc, received six ministries, while the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front received five ministries, and the secular Iraqi list lead by Ayad Allawi received five ministries.
The parliamentary session, with some empty seats, was peppered with dissent. Saleh al Mutlaq, a Sunni legislator from the Iraqi Dialogue Front, walked out and refused the ministries he'd been offered. He told legislators he'd been asked to sign a promise that he would stop inflammatory statements about the formation of the government along sectarian lines.
"I'm not interested in this government anymore," he said. "It doesn't represent the Iraqis, it represents sects."
Some members of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front also walked out of the session after calling a rushed approval of the cabinet without key ministries filled a "violation of the constitution."
But even with the walkouts of about 20 members, legislators expressed relief and hope for the future. They'd presented the people with tangible progress, they said.
Mithal al Allusi, a secular Sunni legislator said that this was the first step on a long road.
"People have voted as they believe and this is the democratic process," he said.
Some Iraqis said the nationally televised ceremony was a power grab inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, while they dealt with the realities of Iraq without the blast walls.
"The politicians are just fighting for chairs and positions and the Iraqi people are paying the price," said Hamza Jawad Zahra, 34, in the holy southern Shiite city of Najaf "They asked us to vote in the elections and for the constitution and we only got problems."
Others were hopeful that now things could finally change.
"The security situation will change with the formation of the government," said Khaled Jamal a 28-year-old vendor. "But it can't succeed if the government continues to ignore us."
Knight Ridder special correspondents Huda Ahmed, Shatha al Awsy, Mohammed al Awsy, Zaineb Obeid and Qassim Zein contributed to this report.
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