 Outgoing interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, left, greets incoming interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari at Thursday’s National Assembly meeting in Baghdad. [Photo]Iraq’s presidential council was sworn in Thursday and named Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari as interim prime minister, the country’s most powerful position, further consolidating the power shift in postwar Iraq. The long-awaited events will give Iraq its first freely elected government in 50 years, and its third set of interim leaders since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. Al-Jaafari has two weeks to name his Cabinet, allowing the new government to begin work on its primary task: drafting a permanent constitution. If approved, the constitution will pave the way for elections for a permanent government in December. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was also sworn in as Iraq’s new interim president, reaching out to Sunnis by urging "our Sunni brothers to participate in the democratic march.” |
