Political Factions Haggle Over Key Cabinet Posts

Political factions squabbled over control of Iraq’s armed forces Monday as the country’s security woes continued. One U.S. soldier and at least 14 Iraqis were reported killed in shootings and bombings around the country.

Iraq’s elected lawmakers, deep in discussions about the formation of a government, remain mired in talks over the naming of ministers of the interior and defense. Prime Minister-designate Nouri Maliki, a former Shiite Muslim political activist, has less than two weeks to come up with a Cabinet that meets the approval of a majority of the 275 members of parliament.

Leaders of Shiite, Sunni Muslim Arab, Kurdish and secular political coalitions face often-competing pressures to appoint competent leaders and satisfy loyalists seeking power and patronage. U.S. officials worry that security forces divided into sectarian fiefdoms could reinforce the country’s drift toward civil war.

Officials said talks over control of the key ministries had reached a crucial point, with a Shiite slated to keep the interior post and a Sunni to take over defense if individuals could be found who were relatively free of sectarian or political affiliations.

“There is some type of agreement between the blocs about the type of personalities that should run the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense,” said Rafi Azzawi, a Sunni negotiator. “Either both of them are independent or neither of them.”

Names being considered for the interior post include former Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi and Qassem Dawood, a moderate Shiite, said Baha Araji, a Shiite negotiator. Araji said the Defense Ministry would go to a Sunni within the camp of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s secular coalition. However, Sunni leaders have demanded the post for a member of their bloc and threatened to quit the government if they didn’t get their way.

Posts are being doled out according to a complicated system that accords each coalition points based on the size of its parliamentary alliance, with the Sunni bloc granted 16 points and the Shiites 47. Blocs can then “spend” the points on posts. Prime minister and other leadership jobs are worth between four and six points, key ministries such as oil and the interior are worth three, and service ministries such as health and transportation are worth two, Azzawi said.

The complicated haggling is aimed at creating a government that can bolster public confidence and provide services to prevent the country’s slide deeper into violence and despair.

The U.S. soldier was killed in southeast Baghdad late Monday morning when his vehicle struck an improvised bomb, the military said. Iraqi police said four civilians were also injured in the explosion, which set a U.S. Humvee ablaze.

Car bombs in northern, central and eastern Baghdad killed two Iraqi police officers and injured 16 other people.

Gunmen killed two bus drivers in separate incidents, part of a spate of attacks on public transportation. Authorities discovered the bodies of 10 civilians, blindfolded and shot execution-style, in various parts of the capital.

A car bomb that targeted a passing U.S. military patrol in the southern city of Najaf caused no casualties but prompted a further tightening of security in the city, which is home to the tomb of Imam Ali, Shiite Islam’s most important site in Iraq. Authorities said they would flood the streets with police patrols, officers and checkpoints.

Khasro Goran, deputy governor of Nineveh province, narrowly avoided assassination in the second attempt on his life in a week.

Special correspondents in Mosul and Najaf contributed to this report.