POL: Iraq's Parliament Approves New Cabinet

[Dutch]

Some pretty important (good) news out of Iraq. You wouldn't have seen this 3 years ago. Slowly but surely--progress.

Iraq's Parliament Approves New Cabinet
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 5 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060520/...NlYwNzc3JlbA--

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's parliament approved a national unity government Saturday, achieving a goal Washington hopes will reduce violence so U.S. forces can eventually go home.

In a show of hands, the 275-member parliament approved each of the 39 Cabinet ministers proposed by incoming Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The new Shiite Muslim, Sunni Arab and Kurdish ministers then took their oaths of office during the nationally televised session in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

The installation, coming after months of political wrangling following Dec. 15 parliamentary elections, completed a democratic process that began after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

In his first address, al-Maliki told parliament he would make restoring stability and security the top priority of his new administration. He said he would "work fast" to improve and coordinate Iraqi security forces so they can reduce attacks by insurgent groups and militias.

Al-Maliki also said he would set "an objective timetable to transfer the full security mission to Iraqi forces, ending the mission of the multinational forces."

Al-Maliki, a Shiite, said he would be acting interior minister for now, and he made Salam Zikam al-Zubaie, a Sunni Arab, the temporary defense minister. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh, a Kurd, was made acting minister for national security.

Al-Maliki hopes to fill all three posts with politicians who are independent and have no affiliation with any of Iraq's militias.

Many of Iraq's insurgent groups are Sunni led, and a key goal of the government is to win the support of Sunnis and to recruit as many of them as possible into Iraq's security forces.

The Bush administration hopes the new national unity government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds can calm violence and pave the way for beginning the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

In a speech after the inauguration, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, predicted that the new government will help his oil-rich country resolve its many problems.

"It will achieve security, stability, peace and prosperity. Working with our people and our allies, this national unity government will purge Iraq of its evil forces, allowing it to once again become independent and prosperous," Talabani said.

The Cabinet includes two women: human rights minister Wijdan Mikaeil, the only Christian chosen, and women's affairs minister Fatin Abdel-Rahman.

The top ministers include Hussain al-Shahristani, a Shiite who will oversee oil; Bayan Jabr, a Shiite in charge of the Finance Ministry; Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd who is foreign minister; and Abed Falah al-Sudani, a Shiite heading the trade ministry.

The legislative session began about 1:30 p.m., 2 1/2 hours later than planned as al-Maliki held last-minute meetings with other politicians, apparently to hammer out final agreements on some of the Cabinet posts.

[Axxon]

That is good news but I must admit that when I read the title I thought "Iraq's Parliament Approves New Cabinet but they are locked in a bloody conflict over the end table."

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by Axxon

That is good news but I must admit that when I read the title I thought "Iraq's Parliament Approves New Cabinet but they are locked in a bloody conflict over the end table."

Personally, I think every new home should start with a wet-bar.

[MrBigglesworth]

This is from the AP Dutch, so how do you know it's not a lie??

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Personally, I think every new home should start with a wet-bar.

Ah, wish I'd have thought of that. I didn't really like end table but it's the best I could do from work. I'm really not a furniture guy as you can tell but a wet-bar... yep.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by MrBigglesworth

This is from the AP Dutch, so how do you know it's not a lie??

I've never said they lie. I say they slant the facts by showing one side vs another. And take a closer look at the article, it's been well crafted.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Dutch

You wouldn't have seen this 3 years ago.

"The task is to create an environment that is sufficiently permissive that the Iraqi people can fashion a new government. And what they will do is come together in one way or another and select an interim authority of some kind. Then that group will propose a constitution and a more permanent authority of some kind. And over some period of months, the Iraqis will have their government selected by Iraqi people." - Donald Rumsfeld, Meet the Press, April 13th, 2003.

[duckman]

Flere, I'm just curious, but how can you personally quanitify "over some period of months?" To me, that could mean 3 months or 72 months.

Now, I'll admit that he obviously constructed his wording so that he wouldn't technically be wrong about the amount of time, but I'm curious as to how you came to your conclusion.

[duckman]

dola

Personally, I'm not very optimistic about this as they still haven't gotten all the cabinet positions filled. I think that if the PM puts in the wrong person that the process could easily breakdown again.

[JPhillips]

There's also the huge question of whether the Shiites and Kurds will stick to their word and allow the Sunnis to reopen portions of the constitution for changes. That agreement is what allowed for the formation of the government in the first place and nobody knows what will happen if the Sunnis don't get what they were promised.

[duckman]

I agree, JPhillips. It's still a very fragile situation over there.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by duckman

Flere, I'm just curious, but how can you personally quanitify "over some period of months?" To me, that could mean 3 months or 72 months.

Now, I'll admit that he obviously constructed his wording so that he wouldn't technically be wrong about the amount of time, but I'm curious as to how you came to your conclusion.

I'm not answering for Flere but this is a good question. I'd quantify "over some period of months" to be valid until the term "over some period of years" would also be valid. Just like I'd quantify "over some period of weeks" to be valid until "over some period of months" was also valid.

Make sense?

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by duckman

Flere, I'm just curious, but how can you personally quanitify "over some period of months?" To me, that could mean 3 months or 72 months.

Be honest, if you thought something would take 3-6 years, would you say "over some period of months" or "within a few years"?

Now, I'll admit that he obviously constructed his wording so that he wouldn't technically be wrong about the amount of time,

Bingo.

but I'm curious as to how you came to your conclusion.

What conclusion did I come to?

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by duckman

Personally, I'm not very optimistic about this as they still haven't gotten all the cabinet positions filled. I think that if the PM puts in the wrong person that the process could easily breakdown again.

That's my thinking. The power brokers have essentially avoided the problem for the moment in order to get the process a few more steps down the road. This still leaves a few key positions without leaders, and the underlying question of cooperation between the ethnic groups (heck, the underlying problem of stopping them from killing each other) still hasn't been solved.

[stevew]

I don't care anymore. These dudes will get killed by the insurgent animals, and that'll mean more kids from america will waste their time defending a lost cause.