Iraq Watch: March 6, 2006

Talabani Tries and Fails to Call Parliament Into Session

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani attempted Monday to convene Iraq's newly elected parliament to meet for the first time Sunday, March 12 but his bid was rejected by senior Iraqi politicians who refused to sign-off on the proposition.

Under Iraqi law, once parliament officially convenes politicians will have 60 days to select the prime minister, president, along with the cabinet.

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraq's current prime minister, was nominated by the powerful Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) in mid-February to reclaim his position. The former Dawa party leader beat out current Iraqi Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi by a slim one-vote margin.

Despite al-Jaafari's UIA backing the incumbent has come under fire from all sides as of late.

Some Shiites claim al-Jaafari has been to soft clamping down on predominately-Sunni insurgents while Sunnis accuse the prime minister of turning a blind eye to Shiite militias whom Sunnis accuse of terrorizing their populous in reprisal for militant attacks. Kurds, meanwhile, have been critical of al-Jaafari for delaying a resolution that would grant Kurds the northern, oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Despite al-Jaafari's detractors he still has his fair-share of supporters, most-notably maverick Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Seven senior UIA officials held an emergency meeting with President Talabani late Monday refusing the Kurdish president's demand to abandon their push for al-Jaafari's second-term nomination.

In violence Monday, a sniper assassinated Maj. Gen. Mibder Hatim al-Dulaimi in western Baghdad. Al-Dulaimi, who was in charge of Iraqi forces throughout the capital city, is one of the highest-ranking Iraqi security officials killed since the U.S.-led incursion into Iraq in March 2003.

In Baqouba, a restive city north of the capital, a car bomb went off as an Iraqi police patrol passed by killing at least six and injuring another 23.

Elsewhere, at least six people were killed and seven wounded in two separate car bomb attacks in Baghdad's southern Dora district.

In the southern city of Basra, two people – believed to be British citizens – were killed after getting into a firefight with Iraqi police. The incident, which also left another British citizen and two Iraqi security forces injured, occurred shortly after 9:00 p.m. in Basra's central Jazaer neighborhood.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced the death of a U.S. soldier Monday. The soldier, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7, was killed "due to enemy action" Sunday in the volatile Anbar province.