Leaders of the Shiite Muslim alliance that governs Iraq have given Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari until Sunday to convince his opponents he should retain his job in Iraq's next government or face being pushed aside, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
In another sign that support for Jafari is weakening within his coalition, Qasim Dawood, an independent member of the Iraqi legislature, on Saturday became the first member of the alliance to publicly call for Jafari to withdraw his name for prime minister.
"I call on Jafari to take a courageous step and set a fine example by stepping down," said Dawood, according to the Reuters news agency. "We have stood behind him for 50 days, and today we have reached the conclusion that there should be a prime minister for all Iraqis, not just one group."
A senior adviser to Jafari, Adnan Ali Kadhimi, said no formal demand had been made for Jafari to step down, and he would not do so. "No one is saying, 'We are giving you an ultimatum,' " Ali said. "Dr. Jafari is not going to kneel to the demand of this person or that person. He is the candidate of the alliance. He got the most votes."
Violence continued across the country, meanwhile, with at least 20 people killed. The U.S. military said one of its helicopters had gone down southwest of Baghdad while on combat air patrol. The status of the crew was unknown, a military statement said.
Reuters reported that the Rashedeen Army, an insurgent group, said in an Internet posting that it had shot down a U.S. helicopter near the town of Yusufiyah, about 15 miles southwest of Baghdad, and that residents of the area had reported hearing gunfire. No further details were available.
In Ramstein, Germany, American journalist Jill Carroll disavowed comments she made in a video recorded the night before she was released from nearly three months in captivity in Baghdad. In the video, which her kidnappers posted on the Internet after Carroll was set free on Thursday, she expressed support for the Iraqi insurgency and criticized the American occupation.
But in a statement released Saturday by the Christian Science Monitor, her primary employer, Carroll said: "Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not."
The 28-year-old reporter called the people who kidnapped her and killed her translator on Jan. 7 "criminals, at best . . . . They put me, my family and my friends -- all those around the world who have prayed so fervently for my release -- through a horrific experience. I was, and remain, deeply angry with the people who did this."
More than three months after nationwide parliamentary elections in which the Shiite coalition known as the United Iraqi Alliance won the largest share of seats, negotiations over the formation of a government have reached an impasse. Iraqi and U.S. officials have stressed that a government that represents all of Iraq's factions would be instrumental in stemming a recent wave of sectarian violence, but the factions have been unable to agree on who would be included -- or who would serve as prime minister.
In February, the Shiite alliance chose -- by a one-vote margin -- to nominate Jafari, who has been transitional prime minister for about a year, to head the next government. His selection immediately drew strong opposition from blocs representing Iraq's Kurdish and Sunni Arab communities and a slate of secular, independent candidates. They reaffirmed their desire for Jafari to be replaced in a letter to the Shiite alliance this week.
Within the alliance, some members -- particularly those from the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which backs its own candidate, Adel Abdul Mahdi -- have criticized Jafari's performance as transitional leader, but none had opposed him openly. Four of the seven parties that make up the alliance, including the Supreme Council, told Jafari on Thursday they would withdraw support for him if he could not win over detractors within 72 hours, Shiite leaders and a U.S. official in Baghdad who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Saturday.
Jafari retains the support of the other three parties in the alliance, including his Dawa party and a group allied with the influential cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, which helped secure Jafari's selection in February.
As negotiations to form a government languished, U.S. officials have stepped up pressure on Iraqi leaders to move more quickly. While Iraqi politicians say American diplomats have privately encouraged opposition to the prime minister, they have publicly maintained their neutrality.
The U.S. official said Saturday that any prime minister should be competent and able to unify Iraqi factions, and that Jafari might not meet that standard.
The potential alternatives could also pose problems. Abdul Mahdi, narrowly defeated by Jafari in the February balloting, is considered the most likely replacement. But his party, the Supreme Council, is perceived in some quarters as too cozy with neighboring Iran, and its militia, the Badr Organization, is accused by many Iraqi Sunnis of operating death squads tied to Iraq's Interior Ministry.
In the day's violence, at least 10 people were killed and 14 wounded when three car bombs exploded, just yards and moments apart, in the Abu Dsheer bazaar in the south Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, a predominantly Sunni area.
In Amiriyah, about 45 miles southwest of Baghdad, three "suspected terrorists" were killed and three others captured when coalition forces tried to raid a house that was a suspected haven for people bringing foreign fighters into Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement. |
A US military helicopter went down southwest of Baghdad on Saturday and it was unclear if there were casualties, the military said. A militant group said it shot down a helicopter in the same area and residents said they heard gunfire. A ... helicopter went down southwest of Baghdad at approximately 5:30 pm, the military said. The status of the crew is unknown. A spokesman declined to say how many were on board or the type of helicopter involved. The aircraft was conducting a combat air patrol, the statement said. In an Internet posting, a group calling itself the Rashedeen Army said it had shot down a US helicopter near the town of Yusufiya, an area that sees considerable Sunni insurgent activity just southwest of the capital.