Iraqi parliament breaks down

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's fledgling parliament failed Tuesday to agree on who would be its speaker, with the interim prime minister and president storming out of the chaotic session that exposed deep divides among the National Assembly's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish members.\nThe short session adjourned until this weekend.\nHussein al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric and member of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's coalition, said the parliament speaker likely would be chosen Sunday, giving Sunni Arab lawmakers time to come up with a candidate.\n"We saw that things were confused today, so we gave them a last chance," al-Sadr said. "We expect the Sunni Arab brothers to nominate their candidate. Otherwise, we will vote on a candidate on Sunday."\nNearly two months after Iraq's historic Jan. 30 elections, negotiations to form a new government have stalled over Cabinet posts and how to include the fragile nation's Sunni minority.\nIn Washington, President Bush acknowledged that Iraqis are divided over the future of their country but said the differences "will be resolved through debate and persuasion instead of force and intimidation."\n"The free people of Iraq are now doing what Saddam Hussein never could: making Iraq a positive example for the entire Middle East," Bush said Tuesday, speaking to an audience of Iraqi law students, members of the religious community and others.\nThe bickering Tuesday exposed tensions in the newly formed parliament, with Allawi storming out of the session, followed by interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab who turned down the speaker's job.\nShiite, Kurdish and Sunni representatives were trying to come up with a Sunni Arab candidate, whom legislators promised would be publicly identified during Tuesday's session.\nOnce it began after a three-hour delay, however, lawmakers immediately began arguing over whether to delay their decision, and the leader of the session decided to kick reporters and cameras out and close the meeting to the public.\n"We demand to know the details of what's happening behind the scenes!" one woman shouted before the live television feed of the gathering went blank.\nSunni Arab lawmaker Meshaan al-Jubouri called for a decision, saying, "There are voices calling for electing the speaker today. This cannot be."\n"This is ridiculous," he said as he left the meeting hall.\nNegotiators were lobbying al-Yawer to take the speaker's job.\n"We have apologized for practical reasons," said al-Yawer, who is seeking one of the country's two vice-presidential spots. "With the small number of Sunni Arabs in the assembly, this post won't put us in a position to strike a balance."\nCritics of the process say the Sunni Arab candidates being discussed for government posts have no influence on the insurgency, and their participation is unlikely to affect it.\nThe Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdish coalition, which finished first and second in the landmark elections, have reached out to the Sunnis and to members of Allawi's coalition, hoping to form an inclusive national unity government.\nHaggling over the level of participation of the Sunnis, as well as jockeying for Cabinet posts and efforts to resolve differences between the various groups, have left Iraq without a government almost two months after the 275-member National Assembly was elected. Lawmakers have until mid-August to draft a permanent constitution.\nThe assembly will name a president and two deputies, who then will nominate a prime minister. The presidency is expected to go to Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani and the prime minister's post to Shiite politician Ibrahim al-Jaafari.