U.S. Again Presses Iraqis on Task

BAGHDAD — For the second time in less than a week, a group of U.S. senators met Saturday with Iraqi leaders to warn that American interest in stabilizing the country could dwindle unless they speed up work to form a unity government.

“This issue needs to be resolved, not only quickly but also inclusively,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said as Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, standing beside him, nodded in agreement.

McCain, who backed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, said later he believed Iraqis “understand the sense of urgency we have conveyed to them.”

“We all know the polls show declining support among the American people,” McCain said.

As his delegation left a lunch at Talabani’s villa, heavily armed convoys arrived, bringing leaders of Iraq’s main political blocs to another round of wrangling over priorities and procedural rules for a new government. Later they reported progress, but cautioned that the task was complex.

Political violence claimed at least 20 lives across the country Saturday. The bloodiest attack occurred in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, where mortar rounds from insurgents that were apparently aimed at an Iraqi army base hit a nearby neighborhood and mosque, killing four civilians and wounding 13.

In Baghdad, a bomb explosion in a vacant traffic police booth killed four people on a passing minibus.

The day’s casualties also included victims of apparent sectarian attacks, a Sunni Muslim imam who had stopped on a Baghdad street to repair his car and two men found with hands and feet tied and bullet wounds to the head.

Speaking at a community sports center during the day, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told Iraqi athletes that the violence “threatens to rip Iraq apart.” He called the effort to form a government “a defining moment.” Iraq’s ethnic and religious political factions have been deadlocked in that effort since the Dec. 15 elections left none with a majority in parliament.

One obstacle has been resistance to the dominant Shiite bloc’s nomination of interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari to keep his job. Another is distrust among the religious, ethnic and secular political factions.

Facing vocal criticism from U.S. officials and ordinary Iraqis, factional leaders have met several times over the last two weeks and reported some progress. A week ago, they agreed to create a 19-member council representing the main factions to guide the new government’s policies. On Friday they settled a dispute over the council’s authority by deciding that its decisions wouldn’t be binding on the prime minister or his Cabinet.

Saturday’s talks focused on principles for the government, a formula for giving each faction a share of Cabinet seats, and a procedure for reaching Cabinet decisions.

Participants said they expected to reach agreement on those points in the coming days. They said they had set no deadline for the more difficult task of deciding who would fill the posts of president, prime minister, speaker of parliament, and the Cabinet.

“I sympathize very much with people who say the Iraqi street is very disturbed by this delay,” Tariq Hashimi, a Sunni participant in the talks, said at a news conference after Saturday’s session. “What we are discussing is quite serious. It demands a lot of effort to prepare a solid political foundation. Naming the people in charge of the government, that will happen as soon as we build the foundation.”

A Western diplomat monitoring the talks said the effort was more complex than it was last year, when Shiites and Kurds took nearly three months to form an interim government.

“This time the Sunnis are in the game,” he said, noting that Sunni parties had boycotted the January 2005 vote. “It’s good that the talks are more inclusive, but it’s harder to make the necessary compromises.”

The most explosive issue for the new government is how to curb Shiite militias. Some of them operate from within the police force, and they are accused of killing hundreds of unarmed Sunnis in sectarian attacks. The principles being studied in the negotiations include a commitment to dissolve those militias.

McCain said his delegation asked Iraqi leaders about the issue Saturday but “didn’t get any real frank discussion of it.” The delegation included two other senators, three House members and three governors. A separate delegation of six senators visited Iraq on Tuesday.

Sen. Russell D. Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat and opponent of the war, joined Saturday in pressing for the speedy formation of a government. But he also voiced concern that the continued U.S. presence “has the tendency to fuel the insurgency.”

Asked by reporters whether the U.S. visitors had brought helpful advice for breaking the stalemate, Talabani said: “Only friendly words like, ‘Please hurry up.’ ”

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Times special correspondent Asmaa Waguih in Baghdad contributed to this report.