White House denies move to oust al-Maliki

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

WHITE HOUSE - The White House is flatly denying a report that key Shiite leaders are maneuvering to oust Iraq's prime minister.

Press Secretary Tony Snow tells reporters there's no move afoot to "dump" Nouri al-Maliki.

Asked what's wrong in the story, Snow said, "Basically, everything."

The talks are aimed at forming a new parliamentary bloc that would seek to replace the current government and that would likely exclude supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who is a vehement opponent of the U.S. military presence.

The new alliance would be led by senior Shiite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who met with President Bush last week. Al-Hakim, however, was not expected to be the next prime minister because he prefers the role of powerbroker, staying above the grinding day-to-day running of the country.

Read the rest at MSNBC

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