Iraqi police find 15 strangled bodies in west Baghdad

BAGHDAD – The bodies of 15 strangled men were found in west Baghdad yesterday as Iraqi leaders, under heavy pressure from Washington, began intensive talks to form a national unity government.

The unidentified bodies were discovered in an abandoned vehicle in the Khudra area, hands and feet bound and showing signs of torture, not far from where the bodies of 18 men killed in similar fashion were found in a minibus a week ago. The killings came as Iraqi politicians started talks to form a broad-based government, widely seen as the best chance of bringing stability to Iraq, but participants played down the chance of any breakthrough.”We are not optimistic at all.There will be no result out of this meeting, just preliminary discussion on the speaker, president and prime minister posts,” said a senior source in the Sunni Accordance Front, the main Sunni political grouping.”Nobody is willing to compromise,” he added.US President George W.Bush on Monday urged leaders to “reach out across religious and sectarian lines” to form a unity government – a process which has stalled amid sectarian strife that has also dented US hopes of a troop pullout anytime soon.”They’re hoping to shake our resolve and make us retreat,” Bush told a policy group at George Washington University, referring to the violence.”They’re not going to succeed.”Three months after elections, Iraqi officials have yet to agree on who will lead the government, along with other important posts such as the speaker of parliament and president.Underlining the sense of frustration at the failure to move forward, one government source said: “As long as it does not take us forever to get this government out we will be fine.”Iraqi President Jalal Talabani warned political parties on Monday it was vital to accelerate efforts to form a government to stop any slide into civil war.His comments were prompted by bombs that killed 52 people in a Shi’ite Baghdad slum on Sunday.Sunni Arabs and Kurds have rejected the powerful Shi’ite United Alliance’s candidate for the premiership, interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who they say has failed to revive a lacklustre economy and stem escalating sectarian violence.The Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament, says it will stick with Jaafari and will resist any pressure to drop him.The parliament session set for March 16 is expected to remain technically open for days, without adjourning, in order to give time for blocs to meet a constitutional requirement to elect a speaker in the “first” session, officials said.- Nampa-ReutersThe killings came as Iraqi politicians started talks to form a broad-based government, widely seen as the best chance of bringing stability to Iraq, but participants played down the chance of any breakthrough.”We are not optimistic at all.There will be no result out of this meeting, just preliminary discussion on the speaker, president and prime minister posts,” said a senior source in the Sunni Accordance Front, the main Sunni political grouping.”Nobody is willing to compromise,” he added.US President George W.Bush on Monday urged leaders to “reach out across religious and sectarian lines” to form a unity government – a process which has stalled amid sectarian strife that has also dented US hopes of a troop pullout anytime soon.”They’re hoping to shake our resolve and make us retreat,” Bush told a policy group at George Washington University, referring to the violence.”They’re not going to succeed.”Three months after elections, Iraqi officials have yet to agree on who will lead the government, along with other important posts such as the speaker of parliament and president.Underlining the sense of frustration at the failure to move forward, one government source said: “As long as it does not take us forever to get this government out we will be fine.”Iraqi President Jalal Talabani warned political parties on Monday it was vital to accelerate efforts to form a government to stop any slide into civil war.His comments were prompted by bombs that killed 52 people in a Shi’ite Baghdad slum on Sunday.Sunni Arabs and Kurds have rejected the powerful Shi’ite United Alliance’s candidate for the premiership, interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who they say has failed to revive a lacklustre economy and stem escalating sectarian violence.The Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament, says it will stick with Jaafari and will resist any pressure to drop him.The parliament session set for March 16 is expected to remain technically open for days, without adjourning, in order to give time for blocs to meet a constitutional requirement to elect a speaker in the “first” session, officials said.- Nampa-Reuters