UIA Wants Defence Ministry, Leaves Interior for Kurds

Informed Iraqi sources revealed that the Shia United Iraqi Alliance wants to run the defence ministry. The sources said the alliance wants the Kurds to control the interior ministry and Sunni Arabs to run the foreign ministry. According to information al-Sharq al-Awsat has obtained, the alliance is willing to give the interior ministry to the Kurds because they had many problems running the ministry. The (secular) Iraqi National List met late into the night (Wednesday) to decide whether to participate in the government or not. A letter was passed to the head of the list, Ayad Allawi, offering him a deputy prime minister's post. Barham Saleh, a senior member of the Kurdistan Alliance, was also offered the deputy prime minister's post. (Sunni Arab politicians have lobbied to control either the defence or interior ministry, which they accuse of targeting Sunni Arabs.)