Iraqi PM pledges to unite country

By The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The first democratically elected government in the history of Iraq was sworn in Tuesday against a backdrop of surging violence, and the new Shiite prime minister pledged before a half-empty parliament that he would unite the country's rival ethnic factions and fight terrorism.

Despite months of tortuous negotiations, there was no final decision on seven positions in the 37-member Cabinet -- including the key oil and defense ministries. More critical still, the partial Cabinet fails to give the country's disaffected Sunni Arab minority, believed to be driving the insurgency, a meaningful governing stake. Many lawmakers skipped the ceremony, among those absent was the government's most senior Sunni member, Vice President Ghazi al-Yawer.

The Cabinet that took office Tuesday includes 16 Shiite Arabs, nine Kurds, four Sunnis and one Christian. Two deputy prime minister's slots -- including one Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari hopes to offer to a woman -- were left vacant and five ministerial portfolios are in temporary hands.

Al-Jaafari's government has less than eight months left to complete its main tasks: draft a new constitution by mid-August and submit it to a referendum no later than Oct. 15. If approved, new elections must be held by Dec. 15, under Iraq's transitional law.

Al-Jaafari pledged to get to work confronting the "heavy legacy" left by Saddam Hussein -- a country afflicted by poverty, corruption and mass graves.

But even with some Sunnis in government, insurgents have made it clear there will be no letup in the violence tearing at the country, unleashing a torrent of bombings, ambushes and other attacks that have killed nearly 150 people since the National Assembly approved the partial Cabinet lineup on Thursday.

Al-Jaafari had promised to form a government that would win over the Sunnis, offering them six ministries and a deputy prime minister's slot. But members of his Shiite-dominated alliance rejected candidates with ties to Saddam's regime, which brutally repressed the majority Shiites and Kurds.

Al-Jaafari himself will be acting defense minister, a post he hopes to fill with a Sunni. And former Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi, a Shiite Arab and one of four deputy prime ministers, has temporary responsibility for the oil ministry.

The new government will hold its first meeting within days, al-Jaafari said.