Iraq's new parliament met for the first time Wednesday more than six weeks after elections, but rival blocs failed to agree on a government and al Qaeda insurgents targeted the meeting with a mortar barrage. During the two-hour inaugural ceremony, politicians pledged stability in Iraq, after windows rattled and lights flickered when mortars struck the fortified Green Zone compound. No damage or casualties were reported in the attack claimed by al Qaeda's wing in Iraq.President Bush, who led a war to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003, called the session a "hopeful moment." Commenting on the parliament session, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called it "an important step in Iraq's political transition process" -- a view echoed by Iraqi politicians despite the failure to appoint a government. "We are part of history," said Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a candidate for oil minister. "This assembly has to succeed in charting the principles of a democratic, united Iraq."
But without a government in place, the parliament cannot yet draft legislation to try to bring normality to a country plagued by relentless violence. The Shi'ite Islamist alliance that won 140 seats -- just over half of the 275-member National Assembly -- and the Kurdish coalition that came second with 75 seats are deadlocked in negotiations over a government that have dragged on for weeks. There is tentative agreement that Ibrahim Jaafari of the Shi'ite Dawa party will be prime minister and Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani will be president, with a Sunni Arab candidate probably being offered the job of parliament speaker. But talks have stalled over Kurdish demands to expand their northern autonomous zone to include the strategic oil city of Kirkuk and over the fate of the Kurdish peshmerga militias, which Shi'ites want absorbed in Iraq's official security forces. The Kurds also want guarantees Iraq will remain secular. Jaafari said a deal would be reached soon. "Within two weeks you will see the birth of a new government," he told reporters after the parliament meeting.
Politicians had hoped for a deal before parliament sat, but one Shi'ite official described recent political bargaining as "arguments of the deaf." Under Iraq's interim constitution, parliament must agree on a president and two vice presidents by a two-thirds majority. Those three will then appoint a prime minister. The assembly must also oversee the writing of a permanent constitution. Current Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and President Ghazi al-Yawar, both of whom keep their jobs until a new government is agreed, told the assembly the process must be inclusive and involve Sunni Arabs, who have little parliamentary representation after many of them stayed away from the polls.
The delay in forming a government has angered many Iraqis, after more than eight million people defied suicide bombers and mortar attacks to vote in the Jan. 30 elections. They want urgent action to improve security and restore basic services. Some Iraqis say the deadlock is playing into the hands of insurgents determined to wreck the political process. The elections were a cornerstone of U.S. plans to hand more responsibility to Iraqi politicians and security forces so foreign troops can eventually leave. But many U.S. allies are cutting troop numbers faster than Washington had hoped.