WASHINGTON - The administration of President George W. Bush has pressed Iraqi leaders to end their stalemate over forming a new government, with the secretary of state and the vice president exhorting top Kurdish and Shiite politicians to come together, The New York Times reported Monday.
Citing unnamed US and Iraqi officials, the newspaper said the White House pressure represented a change in the administration's hands-off approach to Iraqi politics.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday telephoned Iraq's new President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, to urge him to complete the government "as soon as they could" and "to get a status of where things" are, said the report, which quoted a senior State Department official.
The official stressed that Rice did not tell Talabani how to form a government, just that the process needed to be concluded, according to the Times.
Meanwhile, Adil Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite politician selected as one of the new Iraqi vice presidents, met with Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney at the White House, where he was also told that the US administration wanted to see a government formed right away, the report said.
Rice told both Talabani and Mahdi that more than enough time had passed since the January election, and a government needed to be formed now, the paper reported.
The Times said the impact of the White House pressure was unclear.
But Shiite leaders declared Sunday they would no longer hold out for a deal with Iyad Allawi, the outgoing prime minister.
04/25/2005 09:12 GMT