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Analysis: Iraq's Absent Leadership

Council on Foreign Relations

May 17, 2006
Author: Lionel Beehner

Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki has reportedly finalized his cabinet, and Iraq's parliament is expected to convene May 20 to vote on the candidates nominated (WashPost). Iraq's constitution gives Maliki thirty days, or until May 22, to name a cabinet or his nomination is rescinded and the process to select a prime minister begins anew. Few outside the ranks of Iraq's insurgency relish that prospect (al-Manar TV).

Iraq's political process has been beset by sectarian infighting, much of it within the ruling Shiite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA). Indeed, Fadhila, one of the alliance's seven major parties, recently announced its withdrawal from the political bloc. Maliki's coalition seems at a loss for qualified candidates for the powerful interior and defense posts who are acceptable to Kurds, Sunnis, and secular Shiites alike, and without ties to insurgents or sectarian militias. Some speculate that Maliki, to meet the deadline to form a cabinet, may submit an incomplete roster and fill the interior and defense positions at a later date (Daily Star).

Without a permanent government in place, Iraq's security situation continues to worsen, eroding faith among Iraqis in their government's ability to protect them. Local militias are pouring into this security vacuum, while insurgents continue their suicide-bombing campaigns almost unobstructed. Last month, more than 1,000 bodies turned up in Baghdad's morgues. U.S. deaths in April numbered seventy-six, reversing a four-month downward trend in the casualty count. Even soccer fields, once places of refuge, have been wracked by violence (LAT).

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.