Iraqi officials elect Sunni as speaker

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Lawmakers broke days of rancorous stalemate Sunday and reached out to Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority for their parliament speaker, cutting through ethnic and sectarian barriers that have held up selection of a new government for more than two months since the country's first free elections in 50 years.\nDeputies still face, however, difficult choices for Cabinet posts and failed again to name a new president -- broadly expected to be Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani. That choice and those of two vice presidents were put off until a Wednesday session that could mark a major milestone as Iraq tries to build a democratic government and civil society.\nOnce the president and his deputies are selected, they have 14 days to choose a prime minister, the most powerful position in Iraq's envisioned government hierarchy. That job was widely believed reserved for Ibrahim al-Jaafari, of the Shiite Muslim majority.\nPressure is building on parliamentarians, with some growing frustrated with the slow pace of forming a government, because they have an Aug. 15 deadline to write a permanent constitution -- a task that cannot be undertaken until a government is in place.\nSunday's selection as speaker -- Industry Minister Hajim al-Hassani, one of only 17 Sunni Arabs in parliament -- could signal progress in the political tussle over selecting politicians for key Cabinet posts, a process that has been snarled by disagreement over how to reach out to the Sunnis.\nThey are believed to make up the backbone of the Iraqi insurgency, were dominant under ousted dictator Saddam Hussein and largely boycotted the Jan. 30 elections or stayed home for fear of being attacked at the polls.\nThe choice of al-Hassani, however, was not well received in all quarters.\nOsama Abdulfatah, a 30-year-old architect and a Sunni, said the new speaker's support last year of the U.S. assault on the militant stronghold of Fallujah showed he "does not have beliefs, and will never do anything against his benefit."\nAl-Hassani refused to quit as industry ministry even though his Iraqi Islamic Party pulled out of the interim government over the issue.\n"How could we just trust such a traitor?" Abdulfatah asked.\nFormer nuclear scientist Hussain al-Shahristani, a Shiite, and Kurdish official Aref Taifour were chosen deputy speakers.\nThe speaker's job, not the most sought-after positions in the still-forming Iraqi hierarchy, produced more than a week of sometimes angry haggling. A Tuesday session ended in shouting and finger-pointing with reporters hustled out of the chamber to keep them from witnessing more of the angry exchanges as deputies tried to agree on candidates.\n"It's time for the patient Iraqi people to be treated with the dignity that God has given them," al-Hassani said Sunday, accepting his new post.\n"If we neglect our duties and fail, then we will hurt ourselves and the people will replace us with others," al-Hassani said, urging cooperation among lawmakers.\nVoting was by paper ballot, with each legislator allowed to select as many as three names to fill the posts of speaker and two deputies. The top three were Al-Hassani with 215 votes, al-Shahristani won 157 and Taifour captured 96.\nLawmakers appeared largely happy with the choice of the three men, but some expressed disappointment that a president was not chosen as planned.\n"I am optimistic," said Fathallah Ghazi of the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance. "But I think that it would have been better if the president's council was named today because there was no reason to delay this issue."\nOthers called for back-to-back meetings this week.\n"After this delay, we need continuous meetings throughout the week until we finalize the main points," Alliance leader Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim said.\nBut the next meeting was not scheduled until Wednesday, and al-Hassani urged patience, asking lawmakers to pledge their "allegiance to the country and the people, not to the party or the sect or the ethnicity."\nHis remarks drew applause.