I'm not sure how successful this will be without the Sunni's on board.

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD - Iraq's political leaders emerged Thursday from three days of crisis talks with a new alliance that seeks to save the crumbling U.S.-backed government. But the reshaped power bloc included no Sunnis and immediately raised questions about its legitimacy as a unifying force.

The political gambit came as teams in northern Iraq tallied the grim figures from the deadliest wave of suicide attacks of the war and — in a rare moment of joy since Tuesday's devastation — pulled four children alive from the rubble.

"We didn't hear them calling out for help until moments before a bulldozer would have killed them as it cleared the rubble," said Saad Muhanad, a municipal council member in the Qahtaniya region, where four bomb-laden trucks turned clay and stone homes into tombs for hundreds belonging to a small religious group considered as infidels by hard-line Muslims.

Source

If they can forge a majority then they will try to lock the sunni out of the process and that will be a big mistake for all concerned, IMO.

Just thought you guys might like toi see what the agreement says. Full text below.


Four ruling Iraqi parties have agreed to a "new" political alliance and set of principles after intense deliberation. As reported earlier, the Shi'a Islamic Da'wa Party and Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council have signed an agreement with the two principal Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Notably absent from the "new" agreement are any Sunni Arab political forces. The Iraqi Islamic Party of Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi left the negotiations. Also absent are any other opposition groups, including the secular Iraqi National List of former Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, and the Shi'a groups that have most harshly criticized the government of the Islamic Da'wa Party's PM Nuri al-Maliki, namely the Sadrist bloc and the Fadhila Party.


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Notably absent from the "new" agreement are any Sunni Arab political forces

I look for major problems when they all return from August recess. That might not play too well in Washington with the talking heads trying to sell their snake oil.

The sunni are a force to deal with, for they can do substantial damage if they are ignored and Maliki will pay the ultimate price. The Sunni are not finished yet.

This could backfire on their government, as well as our efforts to rally support among some Sunni tribes to take up arms again AQ.

Iraqi politics will be a bit morre interesting when they return from their break. I will be watching and waiting.

The stuff these guys agreed on are the same things that they agreed on last year, where is the progress? Stop trying to put a good spin on a stand still.


BAGHDAD, Aug. 18 -- Iraq's top five government leaders began a review of the country's de-Baathification law Saturday but appeared not to have reached an agreement on that topic or any of the other critical issues that have plunged the country into a political crisis.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, met with President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd; Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni; Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite; and Massoud Barzani, president of the semiautonomous Kurdish region.

Spokesmen for Hashimi and Abdul Mahdi and a written statement from Talabani's office characterized the meeting as productive but did not provide any specific information about the progress made during the two-hour gathering.


STORY

Iraq's top five government leaders began a review of the country's de-Baathification law Saturday but appeared not to have reached an agreement on that topic or any of the other critical issues that have plunged the country into a political crisis.

And I doubt they will anytime soon.

Maliki is schnmoozing the Iranians, that should tell the direction of the govt. Iran shells Kurd villages.


Jabar Yawar, a deputy minister in the Kurdistan regional government, said four days of intermittent shelling by Iranian forces had hit mountain villages high up on the Iraqi side of the border, wounding two women, destroying livestock and property, and displacing about 1,000 people from their homes. Mr Yawer said there had also been intense fighting on the Iraqi border between Iranian forces and guerrillas of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an armed Iranian Kurdish group that is stepping up its campaign for Kurdish rights against the theocratic regime in Tehran.


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Could this be the new plan?


As it was to be expected, al-Hayat reported that the new alliance between the pro-government parties will be soon followed by a radical “reconsideration” of the cabinet’s structure, and, probably, the formation of a new government, “consisting of technocrats.”

The newspaper was quoting sources in Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Sadrist Current. These sources claimed that Prime Minister Maliki and his allies will attempt to ‘resuscitate’ the current government (which suffers from the resignation, or boycott, of 15 of its ministers) by forming a new compact cabinet, with less ministerial seats, and with “technocratic” ministers to replace the resigning ones.


STORY


Seems they may try a form of what Trivium was talking about in the PoliSci section.

I don't think it will work if they don't make it an inclusive cabinet. IMO. They can't have any reconciliation without the Sunni's on board.

If they exclude the Sunni then democracy is dea and I say move on to the establishment of a dictatorship, benevolent, if you will.

Even Sadr is offering his political initiative.


"The initiative rests on collective participation and is composed of a consultative body to consider critical decisions in the country. The body will represent all components of Iraq's political mosaic and its recommendations would be obligatory for the Iraqi government," Falah Shanshal told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
"We also proposed that the body would comprise 15 persons from all political groups based on parliamentary representation," Shanshal added.
He pointed out that the draft initiative was proposed to the members of the Political Council for National Security on Monday and was met with approval by most representatives of the political blocs.
"All minorities will be represented in this suggested consultative body and will have freedom to give their opinions, proposals or reservations on the decisions to be taken," said Shanshal.
The decisions of the body, which will mainly monitor the work of state institutions, will be debated at parliament or cabinet, he noted.


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That proposal sounds a lot better than what they currently have, not that I like to agree with the group that made the proposal.