Iraqi Cabinet Still Unresolved

Marathon talks to break an almost three-month deadlock on forming a new Iraqi government dragged on late Tuesday amid conflicting reports about whether Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari had a list of Cabinet members ready for approval.

A sense of urgency was apparent in the comments of Iraqi leaders as U.S. impatience with the impasse was believed to be rising. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials recently have urged members of the dominant Shiite Muslim and Kurdish coalitions to end the protracted talks and put forward a new government.

With violence in Iraq resurgent and much of the goodwill from the Jan. 30 election dissipated, lawmakers have been scrambling to put together a compromise package of ministerial appointments and break the embarrassing logjam. No group seemed especially happy with the Cabinet lineups that were leaking out.

“We are doing some last-minute patching up,” said Ali Dabagh, a spokesman for the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite-led coalition that won a slight majority of seats in the transitional National Assembly on Jan. 30. Jafari’s Islamic Dawa Party is part of the coalition.

Some reports indicated that the prime minister’s choice for more than 30 ministerial and other high positions would be made public as soon as today. Walid Shahib Hilli, a high-ranking aide in the Islamic Dawa Party, said the names of proposed principal ministers had been forwarded to the office of President Jalal Talabani, who along with his two vice presidents must approve the list.

Others were less optimistic and pointed to fractious talks that continued into the night Tuesday with no clear results.

“I think everything’s still up in the air,” one United Iraqi Alliance insider said. “They may not be back to square one, but they may be back to square two.”

The new government must be named by May 7 or, by law, a new prime minister will be appointed.

The squabbling demonstrates how Iraq’s ethnic, religious and political differences, kept in check for decades under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, have forcefully emerged.

Although the exact shape of the Cabinet remained unresolved, it seemed clear that lawmakers’ stated desire for a government of national unity was unlikely to become a reality.

The party of outgoing interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a U.S. favorite, appeared to be shut out of the Cabinet, according to his representatives and officials of the Shiite-led faction. Allawi’s bloc has 40 seats, putting it a distant third behind a coalition representing ethnic Kurds.

Despite its relatively poor showing in the election, Allawi’s group is said to have demanded at least four Cabinet posts, including at least one major position such as defense minister. Allawi is also said to have sought appointment as a deputy prime minister, with powers approaching those of the prime minister.

The most recent reports indicate that Jafari is planning to appoint three deputy prime ministers -- a Kurd, a Sunni Muslim and a Shiite. Ahmed Chalabi, a secular Shiite and onetime Pentagon favorite, is said to be in line for one of those spots.

U.S. officials say they would be sorry to see Allawi on the outside, but have stressed that the process must advance.

“We worked very closely with Prime Minister Allawi during the entire period of the interim government, and we have great respect” for him, a U.S. official noted recently.

“We would certainly feel he has a quite proper role in the new government, if that can be worked out,” said the official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of negotiations. “But, if not, the new government still needs to be stood up.”

Many Shiite leaders distrust Allawi, himself a secular Shiite. They accuse his interim government of having recruited former officials of Hussein’s Baath Party, which repressed the nation’s Shiite majority. Allawi and his allies, meanwhile, have warned that a new purge of all former Baathists would only further inflame a nation torn by violence and sectarian strife.

Allawi has found allies in Kurdish factions, which are uncomfortable with the Shiite leadership’s religious bent and its suspicions about the Kurds’ desire for autonomy. Kurdish representatives have pushed for Allawi’s inclusion in the government.

The victorious Shiite alliance is expected to assume more than half of the Cabinet posts, including the important ministries of oil and the interior. The Interior Ministry controls the police and internal security.

The Kurds, who hold 75 seats, are expected to head more than half a dozen ministries, including foreign affairs and planning. Talabani, the president, is also a Kurd.

The extent of government representation for Kurds, who have long been marginalized in Iraq, is striking to many here. Some Arabs are openly dismayed at the extent of Kurdish influence in Baghdad.

Sunni Arabs expressed disappointment with what many of them regarded as their underrepresentation, despite reported Sunni nominations to six posts, probably including the Ministry of Defense. Sunni Arabs largely stayed away from the ballot box on Jan. 30 because of a boycott and security concerns.

“Those who feel that the Sunnis will be satisfied with minimal participation are quite mistaken,” Mishaan Jaburi, one of the National Assembly’s relatively few Sunni Arabs, told Iraqi reporters.

Times staff writers Raheem Salman, Suheil Ahmad and Zainab Hussein contributed to this report.