Crumbling Washington backed government divided, soldiers still dying.
BAGHDAD – Iraq’s prime minister appeared to clear the way Monday — with a last-minute push from the U.S. ambassador — for a crisis council that seeks to save his crumbling government.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced a third major operation since additional U.S. troops arrived and said it would target al-Qaida in Iraq and Iranian-allied Shiite militia fighters nationwide. The military gave few other details.
But the sinking fortunes of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Shiite-led administration have become something of a second front for Washington.
Al-Maliki’s government — a shaky coalition of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds — has been gutted by boycotts and defections. A full-scale disintegration could touch off power grabs on all sides and seriously complicate U.S.-led efforts to stabilize Iraq.
Al-Maliki has struggled over the past days to pull together a summit of Iraq’s main religious and ethnic groups. The meeting finally appeared likely after U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker called on Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the lone Sunni Arab invited to the talks that are scheduled for Tuesday. Al-Hashemi’s attendance had been in question.