ECONOMIC MINISTRIES
The U.S. ambassador publicly insisted on a "non-sectarian" figure to run the
interior ministry. However, senior officials said outgoing interior minister,
Bayan Jabor, had secured the finance ministry, despite hostility toward him in
Washington.
A civil engineer powerfully connected within the big Shi'ite Islamist party
SCIRI, Jabor will play a key role in efforts to revive the Iraqi economy, along
with new oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani, a nuclear physicist and senior
Shi'ite Islamist.
Maliki's Kurdish deputy prime minister Barham Salih, the outgoing planning
minister, is expected also to take a big role in overseeing economic
reconstruction. The other deputy premier is Sunni politician Salam al-Zobaie,
senior officials said.
Ahmad Chalabi, an outgoing deputy premier, has not been given a portfolio but
may have some role in the new administration, which could run Iraq for the four
years until the next parliamentary election. Chalabi was once a
Pentagon
favorite but has since fallen out of favor in Washington.
Senior officials said more than half the 30 or so ministries -- the number
could change with final agreements -- are allocated to the Shi'ite Alliance,
which has close to a majority in parliament but is divided among more than a
dozen factions.
Sunnis, whose participation in the political process is vital after three
years of rejection and revolt, have at least five portfolios while Kurds, who
have the presidency, have about four, including keeping Hoshiyar Zebari as
foreign minister.
The secular group of former prime minister Iyad Allawi also appears to have
won four seats, negotiators said.
Followers of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a close ally of
Washington's foes in Shi'ite
Iran, appeared to have secured at least
three seats, including health, a post U.S. officials had hoped they would lose.
Control of medical services has been an important element in enhancing Sadr's
popularity.
