Iraq’s Ruling Shiite Bloc Could Rupture
Iraq’s ruling political coalition, under stress for weeks, is now in danger of an open rupture that could split the nation’s Shiite-majority bloc, Iraqi officials said. For several weeks, U.S. officials and rival Iraqi politicians have been intensifying pressure on interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari to step aside. The most recent such move came Tuesday, when Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mehdi publicly called for Jafari to quit. Full Story