Prickly Iraq legislators fail to form government

Russian fighters arrive Tuesday at al-Muthanna air base in Baghdad. While waiting for U.S. military aid, Iraq has turned to other governments, including Russia, Iran and Syria.
Russian fighters arrive Tuesday at al-Muthanna air base in Baghdad. While waiting for U.S. military aid, Iraq has turned to other governments, including Russia, Iran and Syria.

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's first session of the new parliament ended Tuesday without agreement on the formation of a government, dampening hopes that the country's factious politicians would rise to the challenge presented by an insurgency that is tearing their nation apart.

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After a brief and at times chaotic meeting, Mahdi Hafidh, the acting speaker of the newly elected parliament, adjourned the session until next week, citing the lack of a quorum in the 328-member chamber after Kurdish and Sunni lawmakers withdrew.

Caretaker Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attended the session at the heavily guarded parliament building in central Baghdad amid a groundswell of opposition to his quest for a third term.

There was no indication, however, that an agreement was near among the major Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions on a new candidate for the premiership or that they were close to selecting the other top posts -- the speaker of parliament and the president.

The formation of a new government is a matter of urgency as Iraq confronts the biggest challenge to its existence since it won independence in 1932.

Sunni insurgents led by the al-Qaida breakaway group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have conquered much of the north and west of the country, Kurds have asserted control over the northern city of Kirkuk, and the government in Baghdad has been scrambling to hold together what is left of its collapsing security forces.

The parliamentary session got off to a positive start, but tensions quickly surfaced after two lawmakers -- a Kurd and a Shiite -- exchanged barbs over the central government's failure to make budget payments to the semiautonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan.

"They are Kurds, not Iraqis," said Mohammed Naji Mohammed, the Shiite lawmaker, after the heated exchange. He represents the Shiite Badr Organization, whose affiliated militiamen are battling insurgents north of the capital.

Mohammed, dressed in combat fatigues, complained that Kurdish politicians had distracted the chamber with a "side issue," and he accused Kurds of seizing abandoned Iraqi military equipment from the battlefield and using the crisis to make a land grab.

In an interview Tuesday with the BBC, Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region, said the Kurds would hold a referendum on the independence of Kurdistan in a matter of months.

"In reality, Iraq is partitioned. Should we stay in this tragic situation?" he said. "We can't remain hostage to an unknown future indefinitely."

Meanwhile, a rift among Sunnis emerged over whom they will support for the job of speaker.

After a short break, Kurds and some of the Sunnis did not return to the chamber, leaving the session without the required two-thirds of its members to proceed.

In accordance with a power-sharing arrangement that emerged under the U.S.-brokered constitution drawn up in 2005, the top three jobs of speaker, president and prime minister have traditionally been shared among the Sunni, Kurdish and Shiite blocs, respectively.

The first task of the new parliament is to elect a speaker, followed by a president, who then asks the leader of the largest parliamentary bloc to form a government and choose a prime minister. But Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites are internally split on which candidates to select for the positions, further complicating the quest for unity.

Al-Maliki's political bloc has been calling for the replacement of the current speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi.

Sunni lawmakers said they had reached an agreement to nominate Salim al-Jibouri, a member of the Islamic Party, as speaker, but as the session got underway, that agreement seemed to crumble.

The Sunnis are not prepared to announce the replacement for al-Nujaifi until they have a guarantee that al-Maliki will step aside, said Dhafer al-Ani, a spokesman for the Sunni Mutahidun bloc.

Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak said the candidates would be decided in the next "week or two" but added that there was little doubt that al-Maliki would be replaced.

"The matter is over," he said.

The Kurds also have not settled on a candidate for the presidency, though Barham Salih, a former deputy prime minister, is considered the front-runner.

Shiites, who form the biggest bloc, also are deeply divided over whom to pick as prime minister. Khaled al-Asadi, a member of al-Maliki's political party, said the Shiites "still need time."

"State of Law only have one official candidate, and that is Maliki," he said. "But, of course, we have respect for the mechanisms of democracy," he added, a hint to the uncertainty surrounding al-Maliki's candidacy.

With Sunni insurgents active on the outskirts of Baghdad, the government imposed a major security clampdown across the capital ahead of the parliamentary session. A public holiday was declared to keep the streets clear of traffic; soldiers and police were deployed heavily on the streets; and bridges across the Tigris River were closed.

Call goes out to Muslims

Hours after the parliament session ended, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on Muslims worldwide to flock to territories under his control in Iraq and Syria to help build an Islamic state.

In a recording posted online Tuesday, al-Baghdadi declared he wants to turn the enclave his fighters have carved out in the heart of the Middle East into a magnet for militants. He also presented himself as the leader of Islam worldwide, urging Muslims everywhere to rise up against oppression.

The audio message came two days after al-Baghdadi's group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, unilaterally declared the establishment of an Islamic caliphate, or state, in the land it controls. It also proclaimed al-Baghdadi the caliph, or chief Muslim civil and religious ruler, and demanded that all Muslims around the world pledge allegiance to him.

In his 19-minute address, al-Baghdadi said the Islamic state was a land for all Muslims regardless of nationality, telling them it "will return your dignity, might, rights and leadership."

"It is a state where the Arab and non-Arab, the white man and black man, the easterner and westerner are all brothers," he said, trying to broaden his base beyond the Middle East. "Muslims, rush to your state. Yes, it is your state. Rush, because Syria is not for the Syrians, and Iraq is not for the Iraqis. The Earth is Allah's."

To help build that state, he appealed to those with practical skills -- scholars, judges, doctors, engineers, former soldiers and people with administrative expertise -- to "answer the dire need of the Muslims for them."

He also urged militants to escalate fighting in the holy month of Ramadan, which began Sunday.

"In this virtuous month or in any other month, there is no deed better than jihad in the path of Allah, so take advantage of this opportunity and walk the path of your righteous predecessors," he said. "So, to arms, to arms, soldiers of the Islamic state, fight, fight."

In an appeal to Muslims worldwide, he said: "The time has come for you to free yourself from the shackles of weakness, and stand in the face of tyranny."

Violence in the country already has killed thousands in recent months.

The United Nations announced Tuesday that 2,417 Iraqis were killed and 2,287 were injured in June, one of the highest monthly tolls since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Of those killed, 1,531 were civilians, a figure that the U.N. special representative for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, called "staggering."

"It is imperative that national leaders work together to foil attempts to destroy the social fabric of society," said Mladenov, a former Bulgarian foreign minister. He stressed that a military response alone would not be enough to resolve the threat posed by the militant assault.

Envoy: U.S. aid too slow

As the violence and political upheaval in Iraq continued Tuesday, Baghdad's top envoy to the U.S. said his country is increasingly turning to governments like Iran, Russia and Syria to help beat back the insurgency because it cannot wait for additional American military aid.

Iraqi Ambassador Lukman Faily said Baghdad would prefer to work with the U.S. but delays in U.S. aid have forced Iraq to seek help elsewhere. He also called on the U.S. to launch targeted airstrikes as a "crucial" step against the insurgency.

"Time is not on our side," Faily told an audience at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. "Further delay only benefits the terrorists."

The U.S. has been hesitant to send much military aid to Iraq for fear of dragging the U.S. into another years-long Mideast war.

President Barack Obama has ruled out sending combat troops back into Iraq after withdrawing U.S. forces in 2011, but this week sent more soldiers to Baghdad to help bolster the U.S. Embassy. All told, officials said, there are about 750 U.S. troops in Iraq -- about half of which are advising Iraqi counterterror forces on fighting the Islamic State.

Since the U.S withdrawal, Washington has sold more than $10 billion in military equipment and weapons to Baghdad, and recently stepped up its surveillance and intelligence support to its security forces.

The additional 300 U.S. troops moving into Iraq this week are equipped with Army Apache attack helicopters as well as unarmed surveillance drones, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said.

Noting international bans on Iranian military sales, Faily said Iraq is mostly seeking Syria's advice on how to combat the Islamic State -- a foe that Iran has faced in Syria's civil war. The Islamic State is one of a number of Sunni-led groups that have been fighting for three years to force President Bashar Assad from power.

Faily said Baghdad would be willing to work with the Syrian government to control the border between the two nations, and keep it from falling into the insurgents' hands.

And he said Russia's fighter jets and pilots have been willing to fill Iraq's air support needs. He said Iraq last month bought Russian Sukhoi warplanes because of U.S. delays in supplying requested F-16s.

"The process of delivery of these jets does not meet the immediate threat we face," he said. The first Sukhois were delivered last week, after Russia said it wouldn't stand by while Iraq collapses.

State Department deputy spokesman Marie Harf said some F-16s could be delivered this fall. But she said the Iraqi government needs to finish its plans for sheltering the fighter jets, training pilots to fly them, and completing financial and administrative details before the planes can be delivered.

"The Iraqis have been slow in terms of moving that part of the process forward," Harf said.

"Now we're in a place where some of those things are made more challenging by the security situation."

She said the U.S. does not object to other governments sending legal aid to Baghdad. But she said the U.S. has "been very clear" that the Syrian government isn't a legitimate source of support to Iraq.

The State Department also has told U.S. lawmakers informally that the Obama administration wants to sell Iraq more than 4,000 additional Hellfire missiles for the government's fight against Islamic insurgents, people familiar with the plan said.

Sale of the laser-guided missiles made by Lockheed Martin Corp. would be in addition to 500 previously purchased, of which about 400 have been delivered.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia gave the United Nations $500 million on Tuesday to help the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, where more than 1 million people have been displaced.

Saudi Arabia, a hub of Sunni Islam that has helped finance and arm some Sunni insurgents in Syria, has been blamed by some critics for the mayhem that has now spread to Iraq.

The Saudi kingdom and al-Maliki's Shiite government also have had frosty relations for years. But Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir said the donation was aimed at helping Iraqis of all religions, sects and ethnic backgrounds.

"It should go, we hope, a long way toward easing the suffering of the Iraqi people in Iraq," al-Jubeir said.

Information for this article was contributed by Liz Sly, Loveday Morris and Daniela Deane of The Washington Post; by Kadhim Ajrash, Mahmoud Habboush, Nicole Gaouette, Zaid Sabah, Angela Greiling Keane, David Lerman, Khalid Al-Ansary, Leon Mangasarian, Glen Carey, Sangwon Yoon and Tony Capaccio of Bloomberg News; Lara Jakes, Robert Burns, Ryan Lucas, Sinan Salaheddin, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Sameer N. Yacoub, Zeina Karam and Edith M. Lederer of The Associated Press; and by Rick Gladstone and Rod Nordland of The New York Times.

A Section on 07/02/2014

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