Iraq PM hopes to form government in a week
Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki said on Thursday he hoped to form a government within a week after meeting Washington’s top defense and foreign affairs officials and two of Iraq’s most powerful clerics. As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumseld flew out, Maliki pledged to fill the key posts of interior and defense ministers with non-sectarian appointees. Full Story