Iraqi parliament approves 6 Cabinet nominees, human rights minister turns down job

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's parliament approved six Cabinet nominees Sunday, handing four more posts to the disaffected Sunni Arab minority and taking the country a step closer to completing the formation of its first democratically elected government after months of wrangling.\nBut the Sunni selected as human rights minister turned down the job, saying he could not accept a position awarded on sectarian criteria. The announcement underscored the ethnic and religious divisions that have hampered the new government since landmark parliamentary elections on Jan. 30.\nPrime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, has sought to curb support for Iraq's deadly insurgency by drawing into his government members of the Sunni minority who dominated under ousted leader Saddam Hussein. But bickering over Cabinet positions persisted, with Shiite leaders rejecting numerous candidates submitted by Sunni negotiators because of ties to Saddam's regime.\nNearly 300 people have been killed in a surge of militant attacks since al-Jaafari announced his new government April 28 with seven Cabinet positions still undecided.\nHitting back, coalition forces killed six insurgents and detained 54 suspects in raids targeting terror group al-Qaida in Iraq Sunday in Qaim, near the Syrian border, the U.S. military said.\nCoalition forces said they acted on information they received from Mohammad Amin Husayn al-Rawi, identified as a key associate of Iraq's most wanted militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Al-Rawi was captured April 26, the U.S. military said Saturday.\nU.S. soldiers also captured 38 more suspected insurgents in raids Saturday in Baghdad, the military said. Those detained included an unidentified senior military officer in Saddam's government.\nThe nominees approved Sunday included Shiite Arab Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum as oil minister and Sunni Saadoun al-Duleimi, a former lieutenant colonel under Saddam, as defense minister.\nThe other four were Hashim Abdul-Rahman al-Shibli, a Sunni, as human rights minister; Mihsin Shlash, a Shiite, as electricity minister; Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, as industry minister; and Abed Mutlak al-Jiburi, a Sunni, as a deputy prime minister.\nHowever, al-Shibli said he could not accept his appointment, which would have brought the total number of Sunnis in the Cabinet to seven.\n"Concentrating on sectarian identities leads to divisions in the society and state, and for that reason I respectfully decline the post," al-Shibli said at a news conference.\nA fourth deputy premiership remained vacant; al-Jaafari has said he hopes to appoint a woman to the position.\nPresident Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents signed off on the names before they were submitted to the 275-member National Assembly for a vote. Only 112 of the 155 legislators present voted in favor of the choices.\nThe new government -- most of which was sworn in last week -- includes 17 Shiite ministers, eight Kurds, six Sunnis and a Christian. Three deputy premiers also have been named -- one each for the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.\nAl-Uloum also held the oil minister's post under the U.S.-appointed Governing Council. Al-Duleimi, the defense minister, is a former lieutenant colonel in Saddam's powerful General Security Organization who left Iraq in 1984. He remained in exile in Saudi Arabia until the fall of Saddam in April 2003.\nAl-Jaafari said the long wait for a new government was not in vain.\n"The need to represent all sectors of Iraq was the reason for the delay," he told reporters after the vote. "Dialogue and assessments were given good time so that the ministers would be supported by the majority of the National Assembly."\nHe also pledged to take "all necessary measures" to restore security and said the government could impose martial law, if necessary. He did not specify what this would mean.\nThe parliamentary vote came a day after two explosives-laden cars plowed into a foreign security company convoy in the heart of Baghdad, killing at least 22 people -- including two Americans -- an attack that left a busy traffic circle strewn with burning vehicles, mutilated bodies and bloodied school children.\nAn al-Qaida cell in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the group detonated a booby-trapped car as a "convoy of CIA passed," according to a statement posted Sunday on an Islamic Web site. The claim's authenticity could not be verified.\nThe U.S. Embassy said two suicide car bombers were involved in the attack in Tahrir Square, which also injured at least 36 Iraqis, including a number of children from two nearby schools, three Americans, an Australian and an Icelander.\nOn Sunday, gunmen shot and killed Zoba Yass, a senior official in Iraq's Transportation Ministry, and his driver in southern Baghdad, police and transportation officials said.\nPolice Maj. Gen. Sabbah Abdul-Hadi also said he was accidentally wounded in crossfire between U.S. troops and insurgents in the western neighborhood of Khadra. Lying on a bed at al-Yarmouk Hospital, he showed an Associated Press photographer two bullet wounds in his right shoulder and one in his face. The U.S. military had no immediate information on the incident.