Nouri al-Maliki... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party....
warned that a challenge to his government by Sunni politicians could destroy the ethnic and sectarian power-sharing system that underpins Iraq's democracy--and take more power into the hands of the Shiite majority.
The threat signals the most dire political crisis Iraq has faced since an agreement on a governing coalition one year ago smoothed over a long-running conflict that has re-emerged with the official pullout this month of U.S. forces from Iraq.