Tough road ahead for Iraq leader after government forms
Sept. 8, 2014: Vice President Nouri al-Maliki, attends the Parliament session to submit his government in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP)
BAGHDAD Iraq's new prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, has a daunting task ahead of him: With the world watching, the Shiite politician must unify a deeply divided country against Sunni militants who have seized much of its territory.
First, though, he must find officials to run the defense and interior ministries who will be acceptable to Iraq's parliament, which approved his Cabinet late Monday except for those positions along with a few lesser posts.
The Islamic State group's lightning advance across much of northern and western Iraq has driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes since June, and prompted the U.S. to launch aid operations and airstrikes in hopes of boosting the waning efforts of Iraqi and Kurdish forces looking to regain control of lost territory.
The success of outreach efforts to Iraq's alienated Sunni minority will be a key part of international efforts to beat back the Islamic State militants, who also control parts of neighboring Syria.
Addressing lawmakers, al-Abadi said the central government, which includes all major religious and ethnic groups in Iraq, must make sure that cities and provinces have enough money to deliver basic services. He also emphasized the need to provide housing and education to more than a million people displaced by the militants' advance.
Like many positions in the Iraqi government, the job of defense minister has, in recent years, traditionally been assigned to a Sunni, while the interior minister has been a Shiite. Some lawmakers say the country is at too critical a juncture to put so much emphasis on sect.
"I have fears that the vacant posts, mainly the defense and interior, will be run without ministers or be given to persons affiliated with political parties instead of to people who are independent and professional," Hamid al-Mutlaq, a Sunni lawmaker from Anbar province, told
Al-Mutlaq called on al-Abadi's government to "prove its credibility and good intentions."
Salim al-Muslimawi, a Shiite lawmaker from Babil province, said any further delay in filling the defense and interior posts risks making the government appear weak and divided. He called the generally rapid selection of other Cabinet ministers "a positive step in tackling the many problems facing the country."
See the rest here:
Tough road ahead for Iraq leader after government forms