Iraqi PM vows 'maximum force' as bombs kill 19

BAGHDAD - Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki vowed to use "maximum force against terrorism" today, as bombs killed at least 19 people in Baghdad during the first meeting of his national unity cabinet.

In a reminder of the task Maliki faces in stemming bloodshed and drawing angry, fearful Iraqis back from the brink of civil war, a suicide bomber killed at least 13 people and wounded 18 in a crowded restaurant popular with police.

A day after parliament approved the cabinet of Shi'ites, minority Sunnis and Kurds and its programme to combat violence and consolidate the US-sponsored transition to democracy, US President George W. Bush said the new government marked a "new day for the millions of Iraqis who want to live in freedom."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was too early to commit to sending home some of the 130,000 US troops and said top US military commanders will meet the Iraqi government over the coming weeks to discuss the roles of Iraqi and US forces.

"It is premature before we've even had this discussion with the Iraqi government to start giving firm commitments on what the drawdown will look like," Rice told Fox television.

Maliki said in the programme he read to parliament he will work to complete rebuilding Iraq's US-trained armed forces so that foreign troops could leave within an "objective timetable."

Bush, who is eager to show signs of progress in a war he launched three years ago to remove Saddam Hussein and is costing almost daily casualties to American troops, also said the new government marked a "new chapter" in Iraqi-US relations. He called Maliki and other Iraqi leaders to congratulate them.

Briefing reporters after the cabinet met in Baghdad, Maliki, a tough-talking Shi'ite Islamist, said his government would hold out the offer of dialogue to Sunni rebels who lay down weapons and finish off militias -- a tall order given the attachment his Shi'ite and Kurdish allies maintain to their own armed groups.

"We will use maximum force against terrorism, but we also need a national initiative" for reconciliation, he said. "Militias, death squads, terrorism, killings and assassinations are not normal and we should put an end to the militias."

Bush's envoy to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Maliki's performance this year would be vital: "The next six months will be truly critical for Iraq, to deal with reconciliation and uniting Iraqis. Problems there will be, because this process of state and nation building and fighting terror take time."

Another senior Western official in Baghdad cautioned that sectarian and ethnic divisions remained explosive: "A lot of things can still go wrong ... It's not a few months' job.

"If you expect a functioning Western democracy in Iraq three years after a dictator like Saddam, you're being unrealistic."

Six people died in two other bombings in Baghdad, though recent violence is less than that which greeted the Shi'ite-led interim government a year ago -- testament, officials say, to progress by US and Iraqi forces against al Qaeda car bombers.

Particularly since the bombing of a major Shi'ite shrine in Samarra on Feb 22. -- three months ago today -- there has also been a focus on diffusing communal violence that is leaving dozens of bodies dumped daily in Baghdad alone and has forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

After a year of controversy over police and militia death squads, disputes over who will lead the key Interior Ministry as well as run the defence portfolio forced Maliki to leave those jobs vacant. He said he hoped to fill them in two or three days.

Despite Maliki's efforts to forge consensus among Iraq's rival communities, partisan wrangling over jobs and differences over the role of Islam, the sharing of Iraq's natural resources and the structure of the Iraqi state highlight the problems he will face in holding his colleagues to a common policy.

Chief among the many thorny issues that could tear apart Maliki's government is reviewing a constitution that Sunnis say gives Shi'ites and Kurds too much control over Iraq's vast oil resources and may eventually split the country.

Under a US-brokered deal aimed at luring Sunnis into the political process, parliament must form a committee to draw up recommendations on how to amend the charter in four months.

Involvement of Saddam's once dominant fellow Sunnis is crucial because they make up the backbone of the insurgency.

Boding ill for hopes to win over the disaffected Sunni minority, about a dozen Sunni legislators walked out of parliament on Saturday before Maliki was sworn in. Most Sunni leaders, including Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie held firm, however.

Reflecting widespread wariness among Sunnis for the political process, Jamal al-Falluji, a student in the insurgent stronghold of Falluja said: "This is not a national unity government. Sectarianism and personal interest have prevailed."

- REUTERS