IRAQ - Resurgence In The Shi'ite World - Part 11 - Iraq Govt. Change & War Turn.

PM Nouri al-Maliki intends to reshuffle his government in a big way and on Nov. 12 told parliamentarians he was planning a "comprehensive" change of ministers in his national unity line-up. He scolded lawmakers for failing to show their loyalty to a united Iraq.

The declaration was part of a push to revive an initiative to bring the country's quarrelling sectarian blocs into a national pact, after the government was accused by both Sunnis and Shi'ites of failing to protect them.

A statement from the PM's office issued after the parliamentary session said: "The prime minister has called for a comprehensive cabinet reshuffle appropriate for the current situation in the country". Yassin Majid, prime ministerial press adviser, said the reshuffle could include between seven and nine ministers, but did not say what those ministries would be.

Iraqi parliamentarians have been forecasting a reshuffle for months, but this is the clearest indication from the government so far that a change in the government is imminent. Criticisms have focused on the vital interior and defence ministries, which control the security forces. The interior ministry is held by independent Shi'ite politician Jawad al-Bolani, who has attempted to purge officers connected with Shi'ite militias and recently referred some others accused of torture to trial.

According to many Sunnis, the government has not moved quickly enough to fulfill its pledge to create a non-sectarian police force. The defence portfolio is held by Abdul-Qader al-Ubaidi, an independent Sunni Arab.

In choosing new ministers, Maliki will face the challenge of winning approval from parties which have seen little interest in reaching compromises, and instead appear to have sought control over government agencies to give them an edge in the country's sectarian conflict. In the closed session, Maliki told the attendant lawmakers: "You all have militias. I will not accept a government made up of militiamen".

Under pressure from the US, Maliki is trying to reach consensus among Iraqi politicians on a range of divisive issues including control of the country's petroleum resources, disarming militias and insurgents and the scheduling of provincial elections.

The war, meanwhile, is taking a new turn. On the Sunni sides, Neo-Salafi terrorists are forming a state - an attempted revival of the caliphate - in Iraq's Sunni Arab Triangle and for this they are fighting an existential war with the US. They have vowed to bring the American empire to an end from the Iraq war (see Part 1 in rim4-IraqN-SalafiTargetOct9-06. See a related survey in sbme4-IraqN-SalafiStateOct23-06).

On the Shi'ite side, the Ja'fari theocracy of Iran is fighting its own existential war with the US through Iraq and through Lebanon; in Lebanon its offshoot, Hizbullah, is engaged in a multi-battle war with Israel. In both cases, the Sunni and Shi'ite forces aim to end the American empire - just like repeated Islamic battles brought to an end the Bizantine empire at the hands of the Ottomans. Their last caliphate fell with the collapse of the Ottoman empire at the end of World War I. But this time, there is a race between the Sunnis and Shi'ites, with the former's caliphate efforts competing with the latter's imamate awaiting the return of the Mahdi to rule the world (see news21-SyriaLebIran-Nov20-06).