NAJAF, Iraq,
Feb. 9 (UPI)
--
Iraqi
President
Jalal
Talabani,
after
meeting with
Grand
Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani,
said top
Iraqi
clerics do
not plan to
replace
Prime
Minister
Nouri al-Maliki.
Talabani
traveled to
Najaf, the
Shiite holy
city 100
miles south
of Baghdad,
for
discussions
with the
Marjaia, the
country's
most senior
clerics, The
New York
Times
reported.
"There is a
deal on
keeping the
prime
minister,
changing the
ministers
and reducing
the number
of
ministries
by half,"
Talabani
said.
The
president, a
Kurd, said
he and other
leaders are
trying to
put together
a coalition
government
that would
represent
Shiites,
Sunnis and
Kurds.
Political
progress has
been slow
despite the
reduction in
violence
following
the change
early last
year in U.S.
tactics, and
tensions
within the
Shiite and
Sunni
communities
have been on
the rise.
