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Washington PostTop Iraqi Officials Growing Restless
Vice President Has Tried to Quit; Shiite Leaders in DisarrayBy Joshua Partlow and Robin Wright
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A01
BAGHDAD, June 20 --
Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a senior Shiite politician often mentioned as a potential prime minister, tendered his resignation last week in a move that reflects deepening frustration inside the Iraqi government with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Other senior Iraqi officials have considered resigning in recent weeks over the failures of their government to make progress after more than a year in power, according to Iraqi and U.S. officials.
Abdul
Mahdi said he was provoked by the second bombing of the Shiite shrine in Samarra on June 13, in which he said corrupt police abetted Sunni insurgents. "The two minarets were as important to us as September 11, and we should be accountable to the people," Abdul Mahdi said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "We should be doing more to move in a positive direction -- on corruption, accountability and defending the important sites."
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"It's all about what is perceived to be Maliki's centralizing control with the inner circles of the Dawa party and also not taking on the country's tough challenges," said a senior Iraqi politician, referring to the prime minister's party. The politician said he had read Abdul Mahdi's resignation letter but would not speak for attribution.
"There is growing frustration about the leadership of this country."Read more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002489.html?hpid=topnews