Iraq names Kurd leader as president

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s parliament yesterday elected former Kurdish fighter Jalal Talabani as the country’s first freely-elected president, paving the way for the creation of a government more than two months after landmark elections.

The choice of Talabani by the 275-seat assembly is a major political victory for the long-suffering Kurdish minority in Iraq, which was violently oppressed under ousted dictator Saddam Hussein. Saddam himself, who was ousted in a US-led invasion almost two years ago, had been expected to watch the parliament session from his cell on a US base in Baghdad where he is awaiting trial for crimes against humanity.Shiite Islamist Adel Abdel Mahdi and outgoing Sunni president Ghazi al-Yawar were named as Talabani’s two deputies by parliament, meeting in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone after weeks of wrangling over the top posts.Iraqi MPs predicted a new government should be in place by next week, with Shiite politician Ibrahim al-Jafaari set to be named prime minister Thursday by the new three-man presidency council.A giant Iraqi flag behind him, Talabani pledged to heal Iraq’s ethnic and religious fissures as he was sworn in.”We will spare no effort to present Iraq as a model of democracy …We hope to consolidate national unity …regardless of religious and sectarian backgrounds.”Talabani told reporters his presidency meant that “all Iraqis are equal before the law.It means that there is no discrimination that all Arabs, Kurds and other nationalities have the same rights.”He also reached out to less hardcore elements of the Sunni-based insurgency, hoping to peel them away from movements like the al Qaeda group blamed for much of the deadly unrest gripping the country.”Those Iraqis who are carrying arms to fight foreign troops, they are our brothers we can talk to to reach a result,” he said.Talabani and his two deputies, who ran unopposed after weeks of bartering among Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis, were elected by 228 members of parliament.The assembly erupted in applause when the names were announced, bringing to an end the tortuous negotiations that risked losing the faith of the Iraqi people in government after they risked their lives to vote on January 30.Saddam and 11 of his top aides were to have watched the proceedings from their jail cells on a fortified American base in Baghdad, Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin told AFP.”There will be a place in jail for Saddam and the 11 to watch the TV to understand their time is finished, there is a new Iraq and that they are no longer ruling the country; so they can understand that in the new Iraq, people are elected and they are not coming to power by a coup d’etat,” Deputy parliament speaker Shiite MP Hussein Shahrastani said the presidency council would be sworn in Thursday at 3 pm when they would nominate Shiite fundamentalist Jaafari.- Nampa-AFPSaddam himself, who was ousted in a US-led invasion almost two years ago, had been expected to watch the parliament session from his cell on a US base in Baghdad where he is awaiting trial for crimes against humanity.Shiite Islamist Adel Abdel Mahdi and outgoing Sunni president Ghazi al-Yawar were named as Talabani’s two deputies by parliament, meeting in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone after weeks of wrangling over the top posts.Iraqi MPs predicted a new government should be in place by next week, with Shiite politician Ibrahim al-Jafaari set to be named prime minister Thursday by the new three-man presidency council.A giant Iraqi flag behind him, Talabani pledged to heal Iraq’s ethnic and religious fissures as he was sworn in.”We will spare no effort to present Iraq as a model of democracy …We hope to consolidate national unity …regardless of religious and sectarian backgrounds.”Talabani told reporters his presidency meant that “all Iraqis are equal before the law.It means that there is no discrimination that all Arabs, Kurds and other nationalities have the same rights.”He also reached out to less hardcore elements of the Sunni-based insurgency, hoping to peel them away from movements like the al Qaeda group blamed for much of the deadly unrest gripping the country.”Those Iraqis who are carrying arms to fight foreign troops, they are our brothers we can talk to to reach a result,” he said.Talabani and his two deputies, who ran unopposed after weeks of bartering among Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis, were elected by 228 members of parliament.The assembly erupted in applause when the names were announced, bringing to an end the tortuous negotiations that risked losing the faith of the Iraqi people in government after they risked their lives to vote on January 30.Saddam and 11 of his top aides were to have watched the proceedings from their jail cells on a fortified American base in Baghdad, Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin told AFP.”There will be a place in jail for Saddam and the 11 to watch the TV to understand their time is finished, there is a new Iraq and that they are no longer ruling the country; so they can understand that in the new Iraq, people are elected and they are not coming to power by a coup d’etat,” Deputy parliament speaker Shiite MP Hussein Shahrastani said the presidency council would be sworn in Thursday at 3 pm when they would nominate Shiite fundamentalist Jaafari.- Nampa-AFP

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