BAGHDAD, Aug. 17 Iraq's prime minister's spokesman said the meeting between political leaders to salvage their fledgling governing coalition will not discuss the oil law.
"The fundamentals are: political agreement among parliamentary blocs, possible reforms to the government and reviewing the government's program," said Ali al-Dabbagh, the Voices of Iraq news agency reports.
"The summit will not discuss the oil and gas draft laws and the deBaathification law," he said.
Both laws are prickly in Iraq's fragile and terse political climate. Various factions can't agree on how much access foreign and private companies should have to Iraq's reserves, as well as how strong the central, regional and local governments should be in deciding how the reserves are explored, developed and produced.
The deBaathification law will determine which members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party will be allowed to return to government life.
"These issues could be tackled after discussing the fundamentals, so as to end this aggravated political crisis, which flared up after the withdrawal of some political blocs from the government," Dabbagh said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has announced a new coalition of his Dawa Party and the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, both Shiite, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
This comes after numerous other Shiite parties, independents and Sunnis parties left the coalition in protest.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
