| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Iraq PM Lets Shiites Consider Replacement |
| 2006-04-20 |
| Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, under intense pressure to give up plans for a second term, agreed Thursday to let Shiite lawmakers reconsider his nomination, a step that could mark a breakthrough in the months-long effort to form a new government. Key to al-Jaafari's change of heart was pressure from U.N. envoy Ashraf Qazi and his meetings Wednesday with the most powerful Shiite cleric in the country, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical cleric who has backed al-Jaafari, said Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman. "There was a signal from Najaf," Othman said, referring to al-Sistani's office in the Shiite holy city. "Qazi's meetings with (al-Sistani) and al-Sadr were the chief reason that untied the knot." Shiite legislators planned to meet Saturday to decide whether to replace al-Jaafari, who faced fierce opposition from Iraq's Kurdish and Sunni Arab parties. Rest at link. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #1 Sounds like the Grand Ayatollah finally went into 4 wheel drive. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-04-20 16:56 |