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Shiites Choose Incumbent Al-Jaafari As PM
Shiite lawmakers Sunday chose incumbent Ibrahim al-Jaafari to be Iraq's new prime minister, endorsing the physician and longtime exile for a second term by a single vote _ thanks in large part to support by a radical anti-U.S. faction.

Al-Jaafari's selection paves the way for the Shiite alliance to begin talks with parties representing Sunni Arabs, Kurds, secularists and others to form a broad-based government, which the U.S. hopes can calm the insurgency so American and other foreign troops can begin leaving.

Al-Jaafari edged out Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi during the balloting, largely thanks to support from followers of Muqtada al- Sadr, the cleric whose militia has staged two uprisings against U.S. forces since 2004. Al-Jaafari, who spent years in exile in Iran and Britain, is virtually assured of the top job once the new parliament convenes and a new president is elected in the coming weeks. The constitution states that the president must appoint a prime minister from the largest bloc in parliament.

Shiites won 128 of the 275 seats in the December election for Iraq's first four-year term legislature since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein. The alliance picked up two more when a small party joined after the vote.

However, would-be coalition partners expressed disappointment at the choice of al-Jaafari, with Kurds complaining they were sidelined in the outgoing government and Sunni Arabs pointing to his alleged failure to rein in Shiite-led security services accused of abuses against Sunnis. "We have some reservations, not on the person of Dr. al-Jaafari, but on the performance of his government," said Naseer al-Ani, a Sunni Arab politician. "We believe that his government's performance on security and services was irresponsible."

President Jalal Talabani, a frequent critic of al-Jaafari, threatened to take his 53-seat Kurdish coalition out of the new government unless the Shiites offer a post to the secular party of ex-prime minister Ayad Allawi, whom key Shiite politicians strongly oppose. "We would have preferred a change of faces so as not to see a repeat of some of the problems," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish elder statesman.

Following his selection, al-Jaafari spoke in conciliatory tones about his Shiite rivals and about the need to build an inclusive government. He promised to form a government "based on the grand interests of Iraq." "Today's victory is not that this one won or that one won," al-Jaafari said. "It is a victory of the (Shiite) alliance with its unity and cool head."

However, al-Jaafari signaled a tough stance with the Sunni Arabs. Shiite officials had insisted the Sunnis support the new constitution and join the fight against Sunni-led insurgents if they want to join the coalition. "The main basis for dialogue will primarily be the constitution, respect for the constitution and its contents after the people ratified and adopted it," al-Jaafari said.

Shiite officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the 30 votes controlled by al-Sadr all went to al-Jaafari, enabling him to edge out Abdul-Mahdi, a leader of the main Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, known as SCIRI.
Don't like the idea of Mookie being a 'kingmaker'.
In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought to downplay the influence of al-Sadr, telling ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that there were "many forces" behind the choice of al- Jaafari.

Bahaa al-Aaraji, a senior al-Sadr official, said al-Jaafari was "efficient and able to contain problems." "We have talked to him and spoken about the mistakes of the last government in total honesty," al-Aaraji said.
Posted by: Steve White 2006-02-13
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=142463