Leaders agree on release of 1700 detainees, end of de-Baathification, but Sunnis won't rejoin cabinet

Above: Iraqi Vice President visits detainees in an overcrowded Baghdad jail last week. Hashemi has been vocal about the detention of Sunnis since a 'crackdown' began last January. Below: 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 The largest Sunni bloc recently returned to parliament after Mahmud Mashhadani was reinstated as speaker, but has withdrawn its cabinet ministers from Maliki's cabinet. 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, but also withdrew from the cabinet in April. Maliki recently announced a new coalition involving al-Hakim and Talabani, but noticeably lacking Sunnis. Not pictured is former Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, whose smaller Sunni bloc is boycotting cabinet meetings and has announced it will withdraw from government.

Iraqi Leaders Reach Accord On Prisoners, Ex-Baathists

Iraq's top five political leaders announced an agreement Sunday night to release thousands of prisoners being held without charge and to reform the law that has kept thousands of members of Saddam Hussein's political party out of government jobs.

The agreement was publicized after several days of meetings between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite; President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd; Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni; Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite; and Massoud Barzani, president of the semiautonomous Kurdish region.

The announcement clears the way for the fractious Iraqi government to ease restrictions on former Baath Party members, one of the political initiatives President Bush considers key to Iraq's success. The agreement, reached not quite two weeks before Bush is to receive a progress report on Iraq, could face a stiff battle in Iraq's divided parliament...

The politicians agreed to release an estimated 1,700 prisoners who are being detained without specific charges. The issue of the detainees has been a major concern of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the largest Sunni political bloc, which pulled its cabinet ministers out of Maliki's government this month.

Read the rest at the Washington Post

Iraq Sunni Arabs won't rejoin cabinet despite deal

A new political accord between Iraq's main Sunni Arab, Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders will not be enough to lure minority Sunni Arabs back into the government, the Sunni Arab vice president who signed it said on Monday.

Five political leaders announced the deal late on Sunday, agreeing measures to readmit former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to public life and the release of many detainees.

"What happened yesterday is a good achievement in the current confused political situation. It is an achievement that deserves to be supported," Tareq al-Hashemi, the Sunni Arab vice president, told reporters.

Hashemi signed the agreement along with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, and three other leading Shi'ite and Kurdish political leaders.

But Hashemi said the Accordance Front, which groups three parties from the disaffected Sunni Arab minority, would not reverse its decision to quit the cabinet on Aug. 1.

"Our previous experience with the government has not been encouraging, and we will not go back just because of promises, unless there are real and tangible reforms," he said.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

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