2007-06-03 16:35:51 -
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - An Iraqi Sunni lawmaker urged moderates Sunday to withdraw from Iraq's parliament, accusing the legislature of being a tool of a Shiite-led government incapable of ending sectarian strife and achieving national reconciliation.
«The situation in Iraq is unbearable, the government is incompetent and parliament is just a cover for a political
process imposed on us,» said Saleh al-Mutlaq, leader of the National Dialogue Front, which holds 11 of the 275 seats in Iraq's parliament.
Al-Mutlaq told reporters here that his party was negotiating with moderate Iraqi groups, including Shiites, to form a «national salvation front» that would work toward ending sectarian conflict.
He declined to identify his negotiating partners, but officials of his party said they include the Iraqi Accordance Front, the biggest Sunni bloc in parliament, and the Iraqi National List led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiations with the media.
Al-Mutlaq said the proposed Salvation Front would call for setting a timetable for removing U.S. forces from Iraq, amending the constitution to address Sunni concerns, asking the government to resign and forming a new Cabinet of both Sunnis and Shiites committed to healing sectarian divisions.
Still, he warned that if the other groups refused to withdraw from parliament, «we will find ourselves forced to either suspend our membership or completely withdraw from the political process in Iraq.»
«It's a shame for any politician to remain in parliament in view of the continuing bloodshed in Iraq,» he said.
Al-Mutlaq lashed out at Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, saying his Cabinet was «incapable of providing services or protection for its citizens.»
He ridiculed al-Maliki's recent visit Saturday to Irbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, where he met with the region's leader Massoud Barzani.
«Which country in the world would hail its prime minister's visit to another part of the country?» al-Mutlaq asked.
«In the meeting place, no Iraqi flags were raised and there wasn't a single word spoken in Arabic,» he said. «This region is part of Iraq and Iraq is an Arab country.»
