Iraq prime minister seeks conferences to stem carnage

Story Highlights

• Iraqi prime minister seeks Cabinet changes, regional and domestic talks
• Eight percent of Iraqis polled said al-Maliki can put nation on right course
• Attacks kill at least 50; authorities find 60 bodies dumped in Baghdad
• Time of change in U.S.: Bush's nominee testifies, group's report due

Adjust font size:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Tuesday proposed holding regional and domestic conferences aimed at national unity and stability, as dozens of Iraqis died in several attacks in Baghdad and Diyala province.

Al-Maliki, speaking at a televised news conference, said his new push included a reorganization of his Cabinet.

Lawmakers are working on the Cabinet reshuffle in an effort to foster national unity, he said, and changes will be announced soon.

Al-Maliki's call came at a time of leadership change in the United States, where Robert Gates, President Bush's nominee for defense secretary, told senators during his confirmation hearing that the "status quo isn't acceptable" in Iraq. (Full story)

Also Tuesday, Bush met with the co-chairman of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which is set to issue its report on U.S. involvement in the war-torn country, and a U.S. military commander in Iraq predicted all Iraqi army divisions would take control of what he called their battle space by next summer. (Full story)

"We are going to transition the security responsibilities for this country to the government of Iraq and to their security forces," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told reporters. "I think you'll find the year of 2007 truly is going to be the year of transition."

Al-Maliki's moves, coming just days after his summit with Bush, reflect the prime minister's efforts to restore order in Iraq, which has been increasingly beset by bloody conflict.

If one recent local poll is any indication, the prime minister's efforts haven't been very popular.

When asked to name the person most likely to become a "decisive ... leader" capable of putting the country on the right course, only 8 percent of Iraqis polled picked al-Maliki.

A slightly larger percentage endorsed the anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi got the nod from 17 percent. And 19 percent said there was nobody on the current political scene capable of doing the job.

The November poll of 2,000 Iraqis in Baghdad, Anbar province and Najaf was conducted by the Iraq Center for Research & Strategic Studies.

About 12 percent of the respondents said they were Sunni and 34 percent said they were Shiite. But nearly half would say only that they were Muslim. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Iraq dispatching envoys

In his news conference, al-Maliki said the government will dispatch envoys to neighboring countries "to exchange views on issues of common concern" and to persuade those nations "to contribute to strengthen the security and stability in Iraq."

He said the convening of a regional conference will include those nations that are concerned about Iraq's stability and security and are partial toward helping Iraqis develop democracy, independence and unity.

An exact date, location and specific participants of the proposed conference were not announced. Iraq shares a border with Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and Turkey.

The Bush administration has expressed concern about the infiltration of foreign fighters into Iraq from Syria and has indicated Iran has been supportive of groups in Iraq fomenting sectarian division.

There has also been long-standing concern about Turkey's fears over Iraqi Kurdish independence aspirations and how it would react if that Kurdish region became independent.

Al-Maliki's calls for an international conference came just days after Iraqi President Jalal Talabani rejected the idea, The Associated Press reported.

Al-Maliki also said a domestic national unity conference will be held this month among political parties and prominent political figures.

The purpose of that meeting is to develop a national agreement prohibiting sectarian hostilities and to foster cooperation between different groups.

"We have also started to open dialogues aimed at expanding the political base underlying Iraq and its various institutions," he said.

Dozens killed in attacks

Car bombs, mortar rounds and firearm attacks killed at least 50 people Tuesday in Baghdad and Diyala, and authorities found 60 dumped bodies in Baghdad, police said.

Attacks have been reported nearly every day in Baghdad since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, and sectarian violence -- symbolized by the daily presence of dumped bodies in the capital -- erupted this year.

A car bombing consisting of three explosives ripped through a southwestern Baghdad neighborhood Tuesday morning, killing at least 15 people and wounding 25, Baghdad emergency police said. The attack took place near a gasoline station.

Gunmen in northern Baghdad opened fire on a bus carrying employees of the Shiite Endowment, a group that oversees religious sites and Shiite mosques, police said. The attack killed 15 people and wounded nine.

In the mixed neighborhood of Amil, in the southwestern part of the city, two separate car bombings killed five people and wounded 12, according to police and an Interior Ministry official.

In the Sunni neighborhood of Sleikh in northern Baghdad, a mortar attack in an outdoor market killed two people and wounded five others.

A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol in Yarmouk, a Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad, killed two Iraqi soldiers and wounding four, police said.

Also, six police were killed and 10 were wounded when a suicide car bomb targeted an Iraqi National Police base in northeastern Baghdad, police said.

There were several incidents in and around the town of Khalis in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, according to a Diyala police official.

Three people were killed when gunmen sprayed a minibus carrying laborers; two people were killed when gunmen attacked a market; and police found two bodies and two heads.

Other developments

Saddam Hussein wrote to the chief judge in his Kurdish genocide trial to tell him he no longer wants to attend hearings -- whatever the consequences, according to a letter released Tuesday to The Associated Press by Hussein's lawyers. (Full story)

Vice President Dick Cheney met Tuesday at the White House with one of Iraq's most powerful Shiite leaders, Abdul Aziz Hakim, the AP reported. Bush met with Hakim Monday. (Full story)

The U.S. military said Tuesday three U.S. soldiers died a day earlier in Iraq, raising the death toll since the start of the war to 2,900. Seven civilian contractors of the Defense Department also have died.

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.