By NNN-KUNA
Washington : It is important that Iraqi political leaders come together to try to bring greater strategic stability to their country, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said
Speaking during a department briefing Monday, he noted that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has announced that a meeting of Iraqi leaders would begin this week.
McCormack said US officials are working not only with the Maliki government but also with “important political party leaders, some of whom are in the (Iraqi) government or have representatives in the government, some of whom are not in the government.”
Al-Maliki has talked recently “about the fact that we are going to try to gather up some of those political leaders in Baghdad, and certainly that is an opportune moment to try to tackle some of these issues,” McCormack said.
The Iraqi prime minister faces a political crisis because about half of his cabinet members have stopped attending meetings in protest against his leadership. Six cabinet ministers from the Iraqi Accordance Front, the largest Sunni bloc, have left their ministries, and Maliki has said they will be replaced if they do not return to their posts soon.
Sunnis have accused al-Maliki, a Shiite, of being too close to Iran and protecting Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq.