BAGHDAD, 14 November 2006 — At least 10 people died in a Baghdad bus bombing yesterday, as Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki was expected soon to carry out a sweeping Cabinet reshuffle to try and address some of Iraq’s myriad problems.
The urgent need for change was underlined by the suicide attack on a bus near a church in northeast Baghdad that left another 17 people wounded, just a day after twin bombers killed 40 recruits at a police commando base.
Those killed in the bus included four women and an infant, a medic at nearby Sadr City’s Imam Ali hospital said, adding that most of the corpses were charred beyond recognition.
The US military also announced it had killed eight “terrorists” in multiple raids around Baghdad and detained another 41, while 10 bodies were recovered from Diyala, a flash point province north of Baghdad.
Another five people were killed in a series of shootings around the country, a bomb exploded near the capital’s fortified Green Zone that houses the government and an Interior Ministry official was kidnapped, ahead of Maliki’s political shakeup.
Four US soldiers were killed in Iraq in two separate attacks, the US military said yesterday. A US military convoy was hit by a roadside bomb on the Mohammed Qassem highway in east Baghdad yesterday morning, which killed two soldiers and wounded two others.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle as a US patrol passed in the central Iraqi province of Salaheddin, killing two soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and wounding two. The deaths brought US military losses since the March 2003 invasion to 2,848.
Baghdad police recovered the bodies of 46 people around the city in the 24 hours to yesterday evening, one of the highest tolls of suspected sectarian death squad victims in recent weeks, an Interior Ministry source said.
“Most of them had been tortured,” the source said of the dead, all of them dumped unceremoniously around the city of seven million, some on garbage dumps, others by the roadside.
Meanwhile, a Turkish worker abducted in Iraq in July has been killed, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said yesterday. A body found on a road near the Baghdad airport in September was identified as that of Yildirim Tek by members of his familiy, who were asked to examine photographs of the corpse, a ministry statement said.
With regards to the impending changes, lawmaker Abbas Al-Bayati from the ruling Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) said, “Ten ministers are set to change.” There are 37 ministers in the Cabinet. Expecting the reshuffle over the next few days, Bayati said Maliki will invite all political blocs to send new names of “three candidates for each ministry,” adding that the focus this time was “on efficient technocrats.” Maliki on Sunday told a closed session of Parliament that he was for a “comprehensive Cabinet reshuffle,” virtually blaming the present ministries for the precarious security situation in war-ravaged Iraq.
“He wants to focus on security,” Bayati said, referring to Maliki. “He wants to boost the performance of his government as he has discovered after six months that some ministers lacked in performance.”
Amid the pervasive insecurity across the country, there have also been repeated complaints about government corruption, lack of official services and ministries more interested in serving their political parties than the people.
Iraq’s political process has been further hit by threats from members of the once powerful Sunni Arab politicians who claim to be victims of a bitter sectarian conflict and accuse Maliki of ignoring their woes.
On Wednesday, the main Sunni bloc threatened to quit the national unity government — cobbled together after December 2005 elections — warning they would take up arms if rampaging Shiite militias were not quickly dismantled.
But Maliki attacked the bloc’s leaders, accusing them of inflaming the already volatile situation. “The situation in Iraq requires today a calm approach, not declarations that just put oil on the fire announcing that they will take up arms — and against who?”
Some lawmakers, however, say that the changes in the Cabinet would largely be cosmetic unless a drastic policy shift was announced by the US and Iraqi authorities.
“The extent of Cabinet reshuffle depends on the agreement between the political blocs,” said senior Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman.
“While the change will bring better efficiency in running the government, I do not think it is going to help improve the situation. The situation is very complicated. A lot of time has been lost.”
Othman called for a “formula between the Americans and the Iraqis that could include gradual withdrawal of troops,” a key factor for stemming unrest according to Sunni Arabs apart from the rampaging Shiite militias.
US pressure on Maliki is expected to rise given recent statements by Democrats, who defeated George W. Bush’s Republican party in last week’s midterm elections.
The likely new chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, Sen. Carl Levin, called Sunday for US troops to begin pulling out of Iraq in the next four to six months. “As a matter of fact, we need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months,” he said. The coalition casualties in Iraq have continued to mount, with four British servicemen and three US troops announced dead Sunday.
