Shiites Call On Premier to Quit

[rodeodance]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq2apr02,0,3760.story?coll=la-home-world
From the Los Angeles Times
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ


Shiites Call On Premier to Quit
Ibrahim Jafari loses key supporters over his inability to form a new Iraqi government. The U.S. blames inaction for the growing violence.
By Solomon Moore
Times Staff Writer

April 2, 2006

BAGHDAD — Prominent Shiite politicians deserted beleaguered Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari on Saturday and revealed that they had started looking for a less polarizing figure who could help overcome differences blocking the formation of a unity government.

Kurdish, Sunni Arab and secular blocs all have lined up against Jafari, but members of the governing Shiite bloc had stuck with him. U.S. and Iraqi officials said last week that the White House also had sent a message to Iraqi officials asking that the prime minister be replaced.

Opposition to Jafari among Kurds and Sunni Arabs has been a main stumbling block to the formation of a new government since the Dec. 15 elections. On Saturday, a senior U.S. military official said the resulting leadership vacuum had allowed sectarian violence to fester and spread.

"What we want to see is the rule of law with the government in control and governing in Iraq," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It's tough when the government has not been stood up."

[Teaser]

1. The "key supporter" is actually an Allawi supporter

http://www.needlenose.com/taxonomy/page/or/45

Just more horse trading, as usual, while Iraq burns.

Not that it matters. Regardless of who runs Iraq, the violence is going to continue.

[saigon68]

2. Just repeat after me

There is No Civil War

[GeorgeGist]

3. Yearning for the good old days...

"What we want to see is the rule of law with the government in control and governing in Iraq," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It's tough when the government has not been stood up."

Love or hate him, Saddam was their stand up guy.

No :sarcasm: intended.

[ECH1969]

4. SCIRI turns against Iraqi PM

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's biggest Shi'ite Islamist party will urge Ibrahim al-Jaafari to resign as prime minister, a senior parliamentarian from SCIRI said on Sunday in the first publicly hostile comments from Jaafari's key coalition ally.

Link

[bemildred]

5. SCIRI never supported al Jaafari.

If this means that the UIA was falling apart, it would be important (as important as any of this is), but that does not appear to be the case (at least not yet).

[Disturbed]

6. Al Sadr supports him.

If al Sistani gives a thumbs down on him there will be a new PM.

[bemildred]

10. Exactly, he got him the job.

And he thwarted SCIRI's choice to do it.

[ECH1969]

7. NYT: Iraq's Premier Is Asked to Quit as Shiites Split

Iraq's dominant Shiite political bloc fractured Sunday when its most powerful faction publicly demanded that the incumbent Shiite prime minister resign over his inability to form a unified government. The split came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Jack Straw, the British foreign minister, paid an urgent visit to Iraqi leaders here to convey in the most forceful terms yet that their patience for the country's political paralysis was wearing thin.

It was not clear whether the joint visit by Ms. Rice and Mr. Straw, the top emissaries of the two countries that led the invasion of Iraq three years ago, played a direct role in the splintering of the Shiite bloc, and whether that schism would lead to forward movement on forming a new government, which has been stalled for months.

The developments suggested that a new phase in Iraq's convulsions might have started by opening a possibly violent battle for the country's top job between rival Shiite factions, which both have militias backing them. The incumbent prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, has said he will fight to keep his job, and his principal supporter is Moktada al-Sadr, a rebellious cleric whose Mahdi Army militia has resorted to violence many times to enforce his wishes.

Ms. Rice and Mr. Straw, who came here unannounced in a driving rainstorm from a meeting in England punctuated by antiwar protests, told reporters they did not want to intervene in the dispute over the prime minister. But at the same time they pointed out that Mr. Jaafari had been unable to win enough political support to form a government since his nomination on Feb. 12.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/03/world/worldspecial/03iraq.html?hp&ex=1144036800&en=03c225e5bedf7c65&ei=5094&partner=homepage
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This is huge, Sadr has threatened to use the Madhi Army against the Badr Brigade if they refused to support Jaafari. This is setting up a big battle between the SCIRI led by Harkim and Sadr.

[Kagemusha]

8. Where did Sadr threaten this? Not from this NYT article.

Just says history supports that there might be violence. Which is a fair reading of history.

[ECH1969]

9. Kuwaiti and Iraqi newspapers have been reporting it

She'at sources confirmed to Al-Watan that "Al-Hakeem complained to Sistani that he's being under pressure from Iran and has been receiving threats from the Sadr trend of inciting chaos and violence in case Ja'fari was replaced by Adil Abdil Mehdi" Clarifying that "Sadr made direct threats through a phone call to Al-Hakeem that he would kill all women members in the UIA and leaders in the SCIRI if Abdil Mehdi replaced Ja'fari"

According to the same sources "Iran replaced it's strategic alliance with Al-Hakeem by one with Sadr who visited it last month" Announcing "His militias' readiness to defend Iran in case it was attacked by the US".

http://afreeiraqi.blogspot.com/2006/03/sadr-condemns-rumsfeld-turn-against.html