Iraq Parliament to Meet Today, But No Deal on Government (Reuters)

[Hissyspit]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-03-16T070317Z_01_MAR622365_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-IRAQ-DC.XML

Iraq Parliament Meets But No Deal on Government
Wed Mar 16, 2005 2:03 AM ET

By Andrew Marshall

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's new parliament meets for the first time on Wednesday more than six weeks after it was elected in historic polls, but the country is still without a government as rival blocs bicker over a deal.

Leading U.S. ally Italy said it would start withdrawing its soldiers from Iraq in September, in a fresh blow to President Bush's shrinking coalition.

The Shi'ite Islamist alliance that won 140 seats in the 275-member National Assembly and the Kurdish coalition that came second with 75 seats have been holding negotiations for weeks to agree on a government but remain deadlocked.

There is tentative agreement that Ibrahim Jaafari of the Shi'ite Dawa party will be prime minister and Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani will be president, with a Sunni Arab candidate probably being offered the job of parliament speaker.

But talks have stalled over Kurdish demands to expand their northern autonomous zone to include the strategic oil city of Kirkuk and the fate of the Kurdish peshmerga militias, which Shi'ites want to be absorbed in Iraq's official security forces. The Kurds also want guarantees Iraq will remain secular.

MORE

ANOTHER LINK: BBC News - "Iraq Assembly Opens In Dispute"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4352917.stm

[Hissyspit]

1. kick for morning crowd

in the U.S.

[spinbaby]

2. Oh look, it's being bombed already

Blasts Mar First Iraq Assembly Meeting

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites)'s first freely elected parliament in half a century began its opening session Wednesday after a series of explosions targeted the gathering. The opening marked a major milestone on the road to forming a new government in a country still beset by violence.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050316/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq