An American-style democracy emerges in the Middle East
Power plays preoccupy Iraqi leaders
Officials hope to resolve a protracted battle over the prime ministership this week.
By Jill Carroll and Dan Murphy
BAGHDAD - As Shiites prepare to take ownership of Iraq's new government, power struggles over the post of prime minister are exposing the fragility of the winning United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) - as well as a fractious political landscape.
Islamist Dawa Party leader Ibrahim Jaafari had been heavily favored to take the post last week. But a challenge by the head of the secular Iraqi National Congress, Ahmed Chalabi, threw the process into extended negotiations, even as Finance Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi first withdrew and then reappeared as a possible compromise candidate.
The protracted dispute is raising concerns about the new government's prospects for dealing with the far more divisive challenge of writing a new constitution - as well as the insurgency and the restoration of basic services.
"Jobs, electricity, and security are what Iraqis need and are demanding, and if this government gets wrapped up in obscure debates about constitutional niceties then this thing will consume them," says Toby Dodge, an Iraq expert at Queen Mary University of London. "The great danger is that those 275 individuals will go into the 'green zone' and disappear into the internecine politics of the green zone."
