US pushing new Iraq compromise plan: report
WASHINGTON – The United States is pushing a new power-sharing deal in Iraq that could solve the political deadlock by retaining Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki but curbing his power, a report said Friday.
The New York Times said that the compromise plan was promoted in Baghdad last week by Vice President Joe Biden, who is overseeing the US drawdown from Iraq, and would establish a committee to decide major political conflicts.
The paper quoted an unnamed senior official as saying the plan could result in a new government finally being formed in Baghdad within the next month, and that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would travel to Iraq at that time.
There was no immediate comment on the report from the White House, the State Department or Vice President Biden's office.
Maliki's State of Law Alliance, a Shiite grouping, gained two fewer seats in March's election than Iraqiya, a broadly secular coalition with strong Sunni backing led by ex-premier Iyad Allawi, a Shiite.
But neither man has managed to gain a working parliamentary majority despite months of coalition negotiations, leaving the nation's politics in limbo amid growing public frustration at the lack of progress.
The deadlock has coincided with the end of US combat operations with Iraq and fed fears that the political vacuum could offer an opening to extremists to further destabilize the country.
The Times report said that the new plan would amend the structure of the Iraqi government by adding extra restraints to the authority of the prime minister's office.
It would also establish a new committee with authority to approve military appointments, frame security policy and approve appointments in the military, the report said.
The paper cautioned however that doubts remained whether the United States, with its waning influence in Iraq, can close the deal.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100910/wl_mideast_afp/usiraqpoliticsdiplomacy
