Baghdad, Iraq – Opposition is growing to reappointing Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, just days after he narrowly won the support of his political slate, the United Iraqi Alliance.
Some members of the alliance, a coalition of Shiite Muslim political parties, are talking with Sunni Muslim, Kurdish and secular political leaders about voting against al-Jaafari when the 275-member National Assembly elects a leader, several assembly members from those sects said.
Those who oppose al-Jaafari are uncomfortable at the prospect of a government with close ties to Iraq’s conservative Shiite religious establishment, supported by allies of radical cleric Muq tada al-Sadr, and with ties to Iran.
Some also think that al-Jaafari dealt ineffectively with Iraq’s deteriorating security situation as interim prime minister.
“All this emanates from the fact that we need a government of national unity. We can’t have a religious government,” former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said. “It has to be an all-Iraqi government. It has to be liberal … and everybody is incorporated.”
Haidar Ibadi, a senior al-Jaafari adviser, denied there was a split and said the current prime minister was committed to creating a coalition government.
If just one party from the United Iraqi Alliance split away and opposed al-Jaafari, the assembly members would have a simple majority, enough votes to block his nomination.
Also Thursday, the Shiite- dominated Interior Ministry announced an investigation into claims of death squads in its ranks as police found a dozen more bodies, bringing the number of apparent victims of sectarian reprisal killings to at least 30 this week.
The probe was announced after U.S. military officials indicated there was evidence to support the allegation of death squads.
At least 25 other people were killed in violence across Iraq, including three tribal sheiks slain in a drive-by shooting north of the capital. Three supporters of anti-U.S. cleric al-Sadr died in a Baghdad mortar barrage.
