Parliament approved Iraq's new national unity government yesterday, achieving a goal the US hopes will reduce widespread violence so that US forces can eventually go home. But as the legislators met, at least 27 people were killed and 68 wounded in a series of attacks.
Police also found the bodies of 21 Iraqis who apparently had been kidnapped and tortured by death squads that plague the capital and another area. The wounded included two British soldiers whose convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in the southern city of Basra, police said.
In a show of hands, the 275-member parliament approved each Cabinet minister proposed by incoming Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The new ministers then took their oaths of office in the nationally televised session in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
That completed a democratic process that began following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime in the 2003 US-led invasion.
In his first address, al-Maliki told parliament that he would make restoring stability and security the top priority of his new administration. He said he would "work fast" to improve and coordinate Iraqi forces so they can reduce attacks by insurgent groups and militias.
Al-Maliki said he would set "an objective timetable to transfer the full security mission to Iraqi forces, ending the mission of the multinational forces."
But the challenge the new government will face was obvious when al-Maliki was unable to make a final decision about the top two security portfolios: the defense ministry, which oversees the Iraqi army, and the interior ministry, which is responsible for police.
Al-Maliki, a Shiite, said he would be acting interior minister for now, and he made Salam Zikam al-Zubaie, a Sunni Arab, the temporary defense minister.
Also, some legislators were angry at this decision.
Before the Cabinet was approved by a show of hands, parliament turned down a motion by Sunni Arab leader Saleh al-Mutlaq to postpone the session.
Al-Mutlaq then walked out with about 10 other Sunni deputies. He had criticized the lack of a decision on key defense, interior posts and complained that he was asked to give up his political position and rhetoric in return for three ministries: environment, women and national dialogue.
The US hopes the new national unity government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds can calm the violence and pave the way for Washington to begin withdrawing US troops.
"This is a historic day for Iraq and all its people," deputy parliament speaker Khalid al-Attiyah said at a nationally televised news conference as the legislators gathered.
"It is the first time that a full-term, democratically elected government has been formed in Iraq since the fall of the ousted regime. This government represents all Iraqis," said al-Attiyah, a Shiite cleric.
Meanwhile, violence continued in the country.
At 6:30am yesterday, several hours before legislators began to arrive at the Green Zone, suspected insurgents set off a bomb hidden in a paper bag in a Shiite district of Baghdad, killing 19 people and wounding 58, police said. The blast occurred near a food stand in Sadr City where men gather to wait for jobs as day laborers, police Major Hashim al-Yaser said.
"It was a huge explosion," said Mohammed Hamid, who works in a bakery in the area. "We carried many of the injured to ambulances and helped remove the bodies."
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