Crisis over Iraqi prime minister candidate deepens

Iraq was thrown into deep political crisis yesterday after leaders canceled a much-awaited parliament session following their failure to resolve a bitter dispute over the prime minister.

Four months after the landmark elections for the first permanent post-Saddam Hussein government, Iraqi leaders continued to squabble over who would lead the next Cabinet and also hold key posts in the parliament.

Iraqi Sunni and Kurdish groups have rejected the choice for prime minister of the country's powerful Shiite majority, outgoing Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, while in a tit-for-tat political move the Shiites are opposing Sunni candidates for other posts.

The Sunni and Kurdish minorities accuse Jaafari of failing to curb the raging sectarian violence that has left hundreds dead since the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22.

In turn, the Shiite parties suspect the country's Sunni parties of having one foot in the political establishment and the other in the camp of Iraq's three-year insurgency that has targeted Shiites with bombings and shootings.

"The political crisis has deepened," Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said.

"The issues are not resolved. There is no agreement on Jaafari yet and the other problem is that the Shiite list has opposed the Sunni candidate for the post of parliament speaker," he said.

The Sunni-led National Concord Front, which has 44 seats in parliament, had proposed the name of Tareq al-Hashemi, the head of the popular Iraqi Islamic Party, to be the next parliament speaker.

Political factions had been expected to reach consensus on Sunday ahead of Monday's parliament session, but their quarreling led to the cancellation of the meeting. The 275-member parliament has met only once since Iraq's Dec. 15 election.

Yesterday, the trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on charges of crimes against humanity resumed in Baghdad after a five-day break, but was quickly adjourned until tomorrow.

The prosecution was granted more time to prove the authenticity of the deposed leader's signature on execution orders for Shiites from the village of Dujail who were killed after an assassination attempt on Saddam's life in 1982.