No Progress Forming Iraqi Government

Still no progress on forming a new government for Iraq.

The parliament was supposed to meet Monday, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier, but that was delayed again, while the different political parties had another go-round at trying to compromise on a new government.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's party will stick by him as the Shiite nominee for a second term and will put forward the name of a new candidate only if the premier decides to step aside, a top party official said Monday.

The comments by Ali al-Adeeb, himself mentioned a possible replacement, point to further delays in resolving the issue of al-Jaafari, which has blocked formation of a new government. The seven-party Shiite alliance has deferred to al-Jaafari's Dawa party to decide whether to abandon him in face of opposition from Sunnis and Kurds.

"Dawa cannot present any candidate unless al-Jaafari decides to step aside," al-Adeeb told The Associated Press. "So far his position has not changed. If he decides to quit, then Dawa will try to agree (by consensus) on a candidate. If not, we will resort to voting."

Al-Adeeb said he conveyed that position to U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been pushing the Iraqis to break the impasse over al-Jaafari so a new government can be formed.

The standoff over al-Jaafari forced Iraqi officials to delay Monday's planned session of parliament for a few days to give the Shiites time to settle the issue.

Police on Monday discovered the body of the brother of a prominent Sunni Arab politician who is a major player in current political talks to form a new government.

Taha al-Mutlaq, brother of Saleh al-Mutlaq, disappeared nearly three weeks ago while traveling to Salahuddin province to the north. At the time, Saleh al-Mutlaq said he thought the disappearance was politically motivated.

It was the second time in the past week that the brother of a major Sunni politician has died violently. Last Thursday, Mahmoud al-Hashimi, whose brother heads Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political party, was slain along with a companion as they drove through a mostly Shiite area of east Baghdad.

Political tensions are high in Iraq as leaders struggle to find consensus on who will occupy the top posts in the new government. Efforts to form the government suffered a new setback Sunday when politicians again failed to agree on a prime minister and postponed a parliament session to give the religiously and ethnically based parties more time to negotiate.

Iraqi leaders expressed optimism that decisions would be made quickly.

But that appeared unlikely. Some politicians have suggested that Dawa could put forward the names of two members — al-Adeeb and Jawad al-Maliki — as replacements for al-Jaafari.

"Al-Adeeb is no better than al-Jafaari," Saleh al-Mutlaq said early Monday, before hearing of his brother's death. "Al-Jafaari at least has political experience — al-Adeeb has none."

Al-Jaafari won the nomination in a vote last February by Shiite lawmakers due to strong support from radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The mercurial young cleric, who heads the dreaded Mahdi Army militia, has vowed to stand behind the incumbent.

The bitter fight over al-Jaafari has heightened friction among the rival parties, raising the spectre of deadlock over other top jobs. Some Shiite officials say that if they must change their nominee for prime minister, other parties may not win approval of their first choices for major posts either.

For example, the Shiites rejected the Sunni nominee for parliament speaker, Tariq al-Hashimi. Disputes also emerged Sunday over the two deputy speakers and two vice presidents — jobs expected to go to Sunnis and Kurds.

"This delay will affect everything," Sunni lawmaker Naseer al-Ani said Sunday. "The Shiites did not tell us the reasons behind rejecting al-Hashimi like we did about al-Jaafari. We're still waiting to hear the reasons."

Voters chose the new parliament on Dec. 15, but the legislature met briefly only once last month. Pressure has been mounting on the Shiites to replace al-Jaafari, whom critics accuse of failing to curb sectarian tension that has soared since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, which triggered a wave of reprisal attacks against Sunnis.

In court Monday, experts confirmed the authenticity of Saddam Hussein's signature on documents connected to a crackdown on Shiites in the 1980s, prosecutors said Monday in a new session of the trial of the former Iraqi leader and seven co-defendants.

The report from handwriting experts said a signature on a document approving rewards for intelligence agents involved in the crackdown was Saddam's, prosecutors said, reading from the report.

In an earlier session, Saddam had refused to confirm or deny his signature. Some of his co-defendants had said their alleged signatures on other documents were forgeries.

The defense immediately disputed the experts' results and insisted the documents be analyzed by other experts not affiliated with the Iraqi Interior Ministry.

"We demand international experts with international expertise," defense lawyer Khamis al-Obaidi said.

After hearing the report, the judge adjourned the court until Wednesday to give the experts time to look at more documents.

Saddam and the seven former members of his regime are on trial for the deaths of 148 Shiites and the imprisonment and torture of others after a 1982 assassination attempt against the former Iraqi leader in the Shiite town of Dujail. The defendants face possible execution by hanging if convicted.