Iraqi leaders try again to convene parliament

A complete parliament needed
“We hope to God that parliament meets tomorrow,” Othman told The Associated Press. “Attendance must be complete” and without the Shiites “what will we do? Sit, drink tea and go?”

The Shiites control 130 of the 275 seats and get first crack at the premiership as the biggest bloc in parliament. But they do not have enough seats to govern without Sunni and Kurdish allies, who refuse to join a new government led by al-Jaafari.

But the Shiites can block Sunni and Kurdish candidates for other posts requiring parliamentary approval, including the national president, two vice presidents, parliament speaker and the two deputy speakers.

Al-Jaafari won the nomination by a single vote in balloting among Shiite lawmakers. Shiite leaders, including many who opposed al-Jaafari in the February vote, are reluctant to force him out for fear of shattering Shiite political unity.

The prime minister won the nomination because of the support of radical, anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose growing strength has alarmed Sunnis, Kurds and many mainstream Shiite figures.

Bush: Failure 'not an option'
On Wednesday, President Bush called on the Iraqis to “step up and form a unity government so that those who went to the polls to vote recognize that a government will be in place to respond to their needs.”

“We understand full well that the political process in Iraq must occur soon,” Bush told reporters. “I don’t expect everybody to agree with my decision to go into Iraq. But I do want the people to understand, the American people to understand, that failure in Iraq is not an option.”

Sectarian tensions have been running high since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra and the reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics that followed. Two days of clashes erupted Monday in a Sunni district of Baghdad over rumors that Shiite militias were coming.

At least 13 people were killed in the Azamiyah fighting, but the district was calm Wednesday as Iraqi soldiers patrolled the streets.

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