Diplomats: Time is now for new government in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Frustrated by Iraq's failure to form a government, the chief U.S. and British diplomats told squabbling leaders on Sunday that it is time to pick a governing coalition.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was careful to say the U.S. did not want to interfere in the democratic process, yet complained about Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's failure to organize a unity government. President Bush has made known his opposition to a second term for al-Jaafari, and Shiite politicians are going public with demands that he withdraw as a nominee.

After talks with the prime minister, president and others, Rice said, "You can't continue to leave a political vacuum."

Diverting from a trip to England, Rice joined British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on an unannounced visit intended to send the signal that international patience has worn thin with the stalemate among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds since December's elections.

"People have a sense of drift in the process, both in Iraq and outside of Iraq," Rice told reporters.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, Washington and London have committed nearly all the billions of dollars spent in Iraq and suffered nearly all the casualties. The U.S. and its allies hope a unified government will be able to curb the violence and pave the way for foreign troops to begin heading home.

That government may not include al-Jaafari. President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, is working with Sunni and secular parties to try to block al-Jaafari, deepening an impasse hardened by the recent surge in sectarian violence.

Rice and Straw said they set no deadlines in their talks, which included religious and ethnic power brokers.

U.S. officials have made little effort to conceal their desire that al-Jaafari leave office. A week ago, Shiite officials said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad came to a meeting with the leader of the largest Shiite political organization and carried a letter from President Bush in which he objected to a second term for al-Jaafari.

Rice and Straw posed stiffly for pictures with al-Jaafari; Rice looked pained as she made small talk with the prime minister for a few minutes before the media left the room.

Rice said afterward that the United States is not trying to interfere as the Shiites, who won the largest bloc of votes, chose their leadership. At the same time, she said, "there are two parts to this process. One is you nominate. The other is that someone has to be able to form a government of national unity, and thus far Jaafari has not been able to do that."

The meetings were private affairs by U.S. and Arab standards, absent of the many aides who usually line the walls at such sessions. This time, for the most part it was just Rice, Straw and an Iraqi official.

Rice and Straw made clear "there is a sense of impatience back in Washington and London about the delay," said Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd.

A Sunni Arab politician, Adnan al-Dulaimi, said topics covered included "the Iraqi problem in general," security and "hurrying up in forming the government because the Iraqi people have grown bored of waiting. Our points of view matched."

Asked if they discussed the nomination of al-Jaafari for prime minister, al-Dulaimi said only, "We discussed everything."

A statement released by Talabani's office said he discussed "the efforts exerted by the representatives of the political blocs."

Talks among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders have stalled, in part because of opposition to al-Jaafari's nomination by the Shiite bloc.

"The only way to break that stalemate, in my view, is to go to the parliament, to convene the House of Representatives of 275 persons, and then to resolve this issue, whether it would be him or somebody else," Zebari told CNN's "Late Edition."

On Saturday, Shiite politician Qassim Dawoud joined Sunnis and Kurds in urging a new Shiite nominee. It was the first time a Shiite figure had taken such a step.

"The prime minister can be a national hero by announcing his withdrawal so as to speed things up," Dawoud told The Associated Press on Sunday.

He raised the possibility that al-Jaafari's opponents within the Shiite alliance could name an alternative candidate if the prime minister did not withdraw soon.

A second Shiite legislator, Jalal Eddin al-Sagheer, said Sunday that al-Jaafari no longer had the acceptance of Iraqi parties and foreign countries.

"There is no other way out of the government formation problem," said al-Sagheer, a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

A leading U.S. lawmaker, GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, said from Washington that the Bush administration, after promoting democracy in Iraq, "cannot be seen as again trying to insert a puppet government or however way that's perceived. Just the fact that we had to have the secretary of state and British foreign minister make essentially an emergency visit to Baghdad tells us an awful lot."

Rice stayed overnight in the fortified Green Zone, a first for her. The move was intended to signal confidence in Iraqi security measures and counter the impression among Iraqis that high U.S. officials swoop in to give orders and then quickly depart. Mortar fire could be heard as she dined with Sunni leaders and others.

Rice and Straw made the trip after spending two days touring Straw's parliamentary district in northern England where they ran into vocal demonstrations against the war and Rice's presence.

The diplomats landed in a chilly rain that forced their party to drive from the airport to central Baghdad. The airport road was once notorious for bombings, and Rice has flown by helicopter from the airport on her two previous visits to Iraq as secretary of state.

The drive introduced Rice to a fact of daily life for Baghdad residents: seemingly senseless traffic jams and roadblocks. Her convoy, which usually zips through red lights under police escort, idled motionless in the rain.

Once in the city, mix-ups left some of Rice's aides and reporters stranded in sheets of rain far from the old Saddam Hussein palace that is the U.S. Embassy headquarters.

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Associated Press writers Vanessa Arrington, Robert H. Reid and Mariam Fam contributed to this report.