Iraqi group seeks power shift

Nouri al-Maliki, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, Moqtada al-Sadr,
Harith al-Dhari and Massoud Barzani

BAGHDAD — A group of prominent politicians made up of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds said Monday that it was seeking to form an alliance that could shift Iraq's balance of power and end months of political inaction.

Representatives of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada Sadr were not invited to join the coalition, said Iraqi Islamic Party member Ammar Wajeeh — a sign that the group may want to politically isolate the powerful Shiite preacher. Sadr's Al Mahdi militia has been accused of killing hundreds of Sunni Arab Muslims in recent months.

Dozens more bodies were found Monday around the capital, and early today, two suicide car bombers slammed into a group of day laborers in downtown Baghdad about 8:30 a.m., killing 54 people and injuring 148, according to the Interior Ministry.

Salim Abdullah Jabouri, a Sunni Arab politician, said members of various parties had met several times in an effort to create an alliance "that could reflect political diversity and the social reality of Iraq."

Read the rest at the LA Times

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