Sunni bloc slams Maliki reply, says it 'will be justified if it goes ahead with its plan to quit the government'

Above: The major players -- Nuri al-Maliki (Prime Minister, Shiite), Tariq al-Hashemi (one of two Vice Presidents, Sunni), Moqtada al-Sadr ('fiery' anti-American cleric, Shiite), Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim (head of the largest Shiite coalition), Jalal Talabani (President of Iraq, Kurd, Qadiri Sufi sect of Sunnism), and Massoud Barzani (President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Naqshbandi Sufi sect of Sunnisim). The Sunni bloc just returned to parliament after Mahmud Mashhadani was reinstated as speaker. Sadr's parliamentary bloc also returned recently to the legislature following a protest of the most recent bombing of the al-Askari shrine in Samarra. The U.S. military has said that Sadr is back in Iran, which Sadr's aides are denying.

The largest Sunni Arab bloc said Monday that the government's response to its demands and threat to quit this week slammed the door to reforms.

The Iraq Accordance Front, which has six Cabinet members and 44 of parliament's 275 seats, has suspended its membership in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government and threatened to quit altogether this week if he doesn't meet certain demands...

On Monday, the Front said it treated the contents of the government's weekend statement as a reflection of al-Maliki's personal views, not that of the entire Cabinet, which includes Shiites and Kurds.

It said al-Maliki does not seem to have any intention of dealing constructively with their demands. "He is simply slamming shut the door for reform, and in the light of that the front will be justified if it goes ahead with its plan to quit the government," said the statement.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

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