Baghdad, Iraq – A deal to bring the rebellious Sunni Muslim minority into the new government fell through at the last minute Tuesday, so the Cabinet was sworn in with seven posts, including the oil and defense ministries, vacant or filled only temporarily.
The breakdown marred the historic installation of Shiite Muslim leader Ibrahim al- Jaafari as prime minister, following elections Jan. 30 and more than three months of intense political negotiations aimed at placating Iraq’s feuding ethnic groups.
Negotiators have stumbled over how to bring Sunnis into the government after most Sunnis failed to vote in the election. Shiites are a majority of Iraqis but were brutally suppressed under the rule of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni.
Bringing credible Sunnis into the government is considered key to hopes of stemming the insurgency, but Shiite negotiators have repeatedly rejected Sunni candidates with even remote ties to the old regime.
“We are not in a hurry,” al-Jaafari said. “We want the choice to be acceptable to all the Iraqi people. … We shouldn’t turn this into a sectarian issue. My brothers will choose.”
Mijbal Sheikh Issa, who was slated to head the minerals and industry ministry, said Shiite and Sunni intermediaries indicted that the latest objections came from “foreign entities,” implying that the Bush administration had problems with the choices.
The U.S. Embassy couldn’t be reached for comment.
Two vice prime minister positions were left vacant, and five ministries were filled with temporary appointees. Al- Jaafari will assume temporary control of the defense ministry, while one-time Pentagon favorite Vice Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi will take on the all-important oil ministry.
Also Tuesday, search teams found the body of a pilot from one of two missing U.S. Marine fighter jets. Officials said there was no indication of hostile fire when contact with the planes was lost Monday night.
The military also released the text of a letter apparently addressed to terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The letter was seized in an April 28 raid in Baghdad, along with weapons, fake ID cards and maps for kidnappings and bombings, the military said.
The letter, signed by a member of al-Qaeda in Iraq and addressed to “the Sheik,” suggests that morale among insurgents is low.
“The lines of the mujahedeen have become separated due to some leaders’ actions,” Abu Asim al-Qusaymi al- Yemeni wrote, according to a translation by the U.S. military.
