Iraq’s newly appointed Prime Minister, Ibrahim Al Jaafari, began to build his Cabinet. Despite the weeks of delay and bickering before Jaafari was nominated, the United States expressed hope that by the end of 2005 Iraq would have a permanent constitution and hold definitive elections. After his official appointment by the newly sworn-in President, Jalal Talabani, Jaafari said that he would try to form a government within two weeks, adding that “the ministries need efficient technocrats, nationalists with a good and clean history and team players.” He intends to appoint more than one deputy.

After several members his United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), parliament’s largest bloc, accused the outgoing government of Iyad Allawi of breaking the law and hiring senior members of the banned Ba’ath Party of ousted leader Saddam Hussein, Jaafari promised “to fight corruption and institute administrative reforms.” There would be about 30 government posts, of which about a quarter would be held by women.

Jaafari refused to go into details but a senior aide, Jawad Al Maliki, said the UIA, with 146 of the 275 parliament seats will hold the important ministries of Finance, Interior and Oil. Its Kurdish coalition partners with 77 seats will retain the Foreign Ministry, currently headed by Hoshyar Zebari, and “may get the Planning Ministry, but not the Oil Ministry they have been fighting for.” Most Sunni Arabs boycotted the elections but they are nevertheless expected to get at least six ministries including Defence.

The police announced that four children collecting trash were killed yesterday by a homemade bomb in Baghdad. The children died in the New Baghdad quarter of the city. Insurgents frequently use hidden roadside bombs against US and Iraqi Army convoys. Three masked men shot dead Major Mahmoud Hassan Al Yasiri, an officer in the new Iraqi army, as he was having dinner in a Basra restaurant on Thursday. They burst in and shot him twice in the head and three times in the back, a police spokesman said.

The bodies of 10 murdered Iraqi civilians were found east of Baghdad, a hospital morgue official said yesterday. They had been shot dead and put into bags by the killers. The hospital said that the bodies, found in Balad Ruz, 100 km from Baghdad, were of people killed less than two days ago. Four US soldiers were injured when an unknown attacker threw a grenade at their passing vehicle in Shirgat, 300 km from Baghdad, on Thursday.

Gunmen fired on supporters of Shiite scholar Muqtada Al Sadr yesterday, killing one person and injuring two others as they made their way to protests planned for the second anniversary of Baghdad’s fall to US-led troops today. Shiite and Sunni religious leaders asked their supporters to hold demonstrations demanding that US-led troops leave.

Tehran Times, Iran, 10 April 2005
Summary of editorial by Hassan Hanizadeh

The election of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Jalal Talabani as the first President of Iraq indicates that the chauvinistic atmosphere of pan-Arabism, which dominated Iraqi political life for over eight decades, has now faded and that Iraq is entering a new phase of real meritocracy and democracy.

Prior to this, starting in 1921 when the Iraqi monarchy was established with the enthronement of King Faisal I, Iraq’s political system placed all the power in the hands of the minority Sunni Arabs, and the Iraqi Kurds and Shiites were deprived of any significant role in the political structure of their own country.

Since 1968, when the Ba’ath Party assumed power in Iraq, Arabic nationalism was intensified and the Shiites and Kurds were pressured. With its false slogans, the Ba’ath Party promoted the idea that Arabic nationalism was the cornerstone of patriotism, and in its name they executed or exiled a large number of Kurdish, Islamist, and nationalist figures.

The increasing pressure of the Ba’ath Party on the Kurds and Shiites, who form about 85% of the population of Iraq, caused the two groups to adopt identical political viewpoints on some issues. They both agreed on the need to reject Arabic nationalism, to move toward a free and independent Iraq, to shun all ethnic and sectarian prejudices, and to establish a meritocracy.

After the downfall of the former dictator and the Ba’ath regime and the breakdown of their monopoly on power, the opportunity arose for members of all Iraq’s religious and ethnic groups, including the Kurds, Shiites, Sunnis, Turkmen, and Christians, to participate actively in the political affairs of their country. The general elections in Iraq as well as the wise positions adopted by Iraqi political and religious leaders, and particularly the religious authorities, convinced most Iraqi people to participate in the democratic and free election to determine their country’s political structure.

The Iraqi National Assembly was established in the most unprecedented election in Iraq’s history, because all of its 275 MPs were elected by the real vote of the people.

The selection of a Kurdish leader as President of Iraq, despite his ethnicity, is an astute move with many political meanings. The appointment of Jalal Talabani, one of the most respected political figures in the world, may not be good news for some neighboring Arab countries, but it will certainly help to promote national unity in Iraq and prevent the dismemberment of the country.

Previously, the Iraqi Kurds were caught in the web of pan-Arab tendencies turned into a culture by the Ba’ath Party, depriving them of any role in

conducting their country’s affairs. Naturally, this situation fostered separatist views among Iraqi Kurds. Through the election of Talabani as Iraq’s President, the notion that the Kurds, are located outside Iraq’s geographical map was eliminated forever, and a kind of unity replaced this false assumption.

Another meritorious measure of the Iraqi National Assembly was the election of Ibrahim al-Jafaari as prime minister of Iraq, which will certainly help to establish security and political stability in the country. Ibrahim al-Jafaari has struggled to establish democracy and freedom in Iraq for many years and can undoubtedly alter the current situation of Iraq, employ efficient people, guide Iraq toward domestic stability and help it attain its rightful place in the comity of nations.

The formation of the Iraqi cabinet and its efforts to counter the activities of terrorists in the country and to clarify Iraq’s future relations with neighboring countries, without any kind of interference from them, are currently the issues of prime importance.

The Speaker of the Iraqi National Assembly, the President and the Prime Minister are the three influential figures who must put aside ethnic and sectarian differences and implement their agenda as soon as possible.

  Note: Much of this analysis is correct. However, the writer underlines the ceremonial nature of the Presidency by excluding Jalal Talabani from “the three influential figures” yet expects his appointment to end Kurdish aspirations to autonomy or independence. He is deluding himself. Unless the Kurds get at least their fair share of crucial posts, they will continue to demand autonomy for their regions. They have no intention of being ruled by Shiites any more than by Sunni Arabs.