Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pledged to fill his cabinet security posts by the weekend as Washington downplayed any imminent cutbacks in US forces amid surging violence. “In the coming three days, the name of the defense, interior and national security ministers will be finalized,” Maliki said in an interview with state-owned Iraqiya television Iraq’s new cabinet, approved by parliament on Saturday, still lacks heads for the key security ministries because the country’s rival sectarian and ethnic groups have been unable to agree upon on them. Full Story