Iraqi key ministers not part of spoil system
Iraq-USA, Politics, 6/9/2006

The Iraqi Council of Representatives (parliament) voted by large margins June 8 to approve nominees for the three remaining ministerial positions in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Cabinet.

After weeks of political bargaining, al-Maliki obtained parliamentary approval of his candidates to fill three key security posts: Minister of Defense Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassim, Minister of the Interior Jawad al-Bolani, and Minister of National Security Shirwan al-Waeli.

US President George W. Bush said yesterday "These new ministers are part of a democratic government that represents all Iraqis." He added "They will play a vital role as the Iraqi government addresses its top priorities -- reconciliation and reconstruction and putting an end to the kidnappings and beheadings and suicide bombings that plague the Iraqi people."

Al-Maliki presented nominees for a 38-member Cabinet to the Council of Representatives May 20 with temporary appointments for the three security posts. The permanent appointments come after intense negotiations with the various political parties to ensure that all communities are appropriately represented.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, said the posts took a long time to fill because al-Maliki "made a decision that those posts would not be part of the spoils system of the electoral process, but instead, that they would be individuals who were highly competent, who would govern from the center, who would manage those critically important departments in a way that left no doubt in the minds of the Iraqi people that they were being run in a fair and nonsectarian manner."

Rumsfeld said he looks forward to working with the new security ministers. Bush said he and his security team plan to have a teleconference with al-Maliki and his newly completed Cabinet June 13 to discuss "how to best deploy America's resources in Iraq and achieve our shared goal of an Iraq that can govern itself, defend itself and sustain itself."

Previous Stories:
  Iraq appoints ministers for defense and interior   (6/8/2006)
  Zarqawi killed in Iraq   (6/8/2006)
  Egypt supports Iraqi reconciliation conference   (6/7/2006)
  Hope for inquiry into UK soldiers' deaths in Iraq   (6/7/2006)
  US on the increased violence in Iraq   (6/6/2006)

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