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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiite lawmakers Sunday chose Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to head Iraq's new government, Shiite officials said. Al-Jaafari won 64 votes, one more than Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, officials said. There were two abstentions. More than 100 lawmakers from the Shiite coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, gathered to vote. The choice of the umbrella Shiite alliance is assured of becoming prime minister because Shiites won the most parliament seats in the Dec. 15 national elections. Shiite lawyers cast their votes at the heavily guarded home of Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of Abdul-Mahdi's party. Al-Jaafari's supporters gathered in the...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY As is their custom when in Washington on a weekend, the President and First Lady attended St. Johns Episcopal Church this morning. The President will address the nation this evening from the Oval Office. In the meantime, Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise visit to Iraq on the first leg of his Middle Eastern trip. QUOTE OF THE DAY: From the Vice President's remarks to the troops at Al-Asad Air Base, Al-Asad, Iraq, Sunday, December 18, 2005. (Click here to read the entire transcript.) THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I'm not Jessica Simpson. (Laughter.) But...

DEARBORN, Mich. - Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari met with members of the Detroit area's Arab American community and took questions at a town hall meeting Tuesday night. Hundreds of people gathered at the Ritz Carlton in Dearborn to get a glimpse of the Iraqi leader. "This is a unique opportunity," said Oday Hussan, 53, of Livonia. "This is the first time we can hear from our prime minister ... and for all Iraqis this is a great opportunity because the old regime would not give us this opportunity." Dr. Najwa Aljawad of Dearborn said she worked with the Iraqi...

Iraq’s transitional prime minister called today for a speedy withdrawal of US troops and the top US commander in Iraq said he believed a “fairly substantial” pullout could begin next spring and summer. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said at a joint news conference with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the time has arrived to plan a co-ordinated transition from American to Iraqi military control throughout the country. Gen George Casey, the top American commander in Iraq, told US reporters travelling with Rumsfeld that he believed a US troop withdrawal could begin by spring 2006 if progress continues on the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's transitional prime minister called Wednesday for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops and the top U.S. commander here said he believed a "fairly substantial" pullout could begin next spring and summer. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said at a joint news conference with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that the time has arrived to plan a coordinated transition from American to Iraqi military control throughout the country. Asked how soon a U.S. withdrawal should happen, he said no exact timetable had been set. "But we confirm and we desire speed in that regard," he said, speaking through...

Europe was saved by generosity and vision — the same is needed in the Middle East LAST WEEK I was at Blair House in the centre of Washington DC. In this house is the table on which George Marshall in June 1947 signed the plan to pump today’s equivalent of $500 billion into the impoverished economies of Europe as an investment against future conflict. The plan was controversial but nobody would now deny its far-sightedness. Nazism gave way to a lasting democracy, economic devastation was replaced by slow but sure progress towards economic regeneration. Consider Germany of 1945 and Germany...

WOLF BLITZER, HOST: It's noon in Washington, 9:00 a.m. in Los Angeles, 7:00 p.m. in Beirut and 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad. Wherever you're watching from around the world thanks very much for joining us for "LATE EDITION." We'll get to our interview with General Abizaid in just a moment, and later we'll also get the views of Senator Edward Kennedy. But first, a quick check of what's in the news right now. (NEWSBREAK) BLITZER: On Tuesday President Bush is set to deliver a prime time televised address to the nation to try to explain U.S. policy in Iraq. Polls show...

The Talk Shows Sunday, June 19th, 2005 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; singer and activist Bono. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command. THIS WEEK (ABC): Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, former FBI Director L. Patrick Gray.LATE EDITION (CNN) : Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon.

Iraq PM Says U.S. Forces Must Stay Associated Press June 24, 2005 WASHINGTON - The U.S.-led multinational force must stay in Iraq until Iraqi forces are fully prepared to defend the country by themselves, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Thursday. Setting of a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces would be a sign of weakness, he said. "The country would be open to increased terrorist activity," he said at the Council on Foreign Relations. Ahead of his White House meeting Friday with President Bush, al-Jaafari said Iraq's insurgency consisted of a "very, very limited minority" of people. Where once...

Iraq would like to see U.S. forces withdraw as soon as feasible, but setting a date for their departure would be a mistake, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said in an interview published on Friday. "We would like to see the withdrawal of American forces as quickly as possible, because the presence of any foreign troops on our land means there is a weakness that we cannot by ourselves control the security situation," Jaafari said in an interview with The Washington Post. But a deadline would "play into the hands of the terrorists," Jaafari said on the eve of a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush, under pressure over declining American support for the Iraq war, discussed strategy on the way forward on Friday with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. White House officials indicated there would be no major change in Bush's Iraq policy, keeping U.S. troops there until Iraqis are sufficiently trained to defend themselves. Bush and Jaafari planned a news conference in the White House East Room after their talks. The U.S. president faces a difficult task of acknowledging the difficulties in Iraq with his tendency to emphasize the positive. Fifty-one percent of Americans believe the United States should...

President George W Bush held a discussion on strengthening social security reform at Montgomery Blair High School, in Silver Spring, Md Later President George W. Bush spoke about the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in the Old Executive Building urging Congress to ratify the CAFTA trade pact Vice President Dick Cheney will appear on today's "Wolf Blitzer Reports." The program focuses on the day's top news, live interviews with top newsmakers and live reports from CNN correspondents Earlier in the day Vice President Dick Cheney along with National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley had a closed meeting with Iraq's Prime...

WASHINGTON - Iraq’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari blasted the Al Jazeera news channel and other Arab media Thursday for giving distorted coverage of Iraq’s troubles and encouraging “terrorism.” Defending a ban on the pan-Arab network when challenged by an Al Jazeera reporter at an appearance in Washington, Jaafari said ”the Iraqi people hugely oppose this news channel.” “Representatives of Al Jazeera have come to speak to me and I say to them that the problem Al Jazeera has, is not with the government it is with the Iraqi people,” Jaafari said at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. “The...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S.-led multinational force must stay in Iraq until Iraqi forces are fully prepared to defend the country by themselves, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Thursday. Setting of a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces would be a sign of weakness, he said. "The country would be open to increased terrorist activity," he said at the Council on Foreign Relations. Ahead of his White House meeting Friday with President Bush, al-Jaafari said Iraq's insurgency consisted of a "very, very limited minority" of people. Where once there were 12 to 14 incidents of terrorism a day, the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Police say gunmen have killed an aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari pledged to unite Iraq's rival ethnic and religious factions and fight terrorism as the nation's first democratically elected government was sworn in yesterday. "You all know the heavy legacy inherited by this government. We are afflicted by corruption, lack of services, unemployment and mass graves," Mr. al-Jaafari told lawmakers after taking the oath of office before the National Assembly. "I would like to tell the widows and orphans ... your sacrifices have not gone in vain."

Profile: Iraqi PM designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari BAGHDAD, April 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq's presidential council named on Thursday Ibrahim al-Jaafari as prime minister for the transitional government. The Iraqi Kurdish president Jalal Talabani read a presidential decree to reporters after the sworn-in ceremony, charging Jaafari to form the new Iraqi cabinet. Jaafari is head of the Islamist Dawa Party, which is a major party forming the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, which won a majority in Jan. 30 elections, along with the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) led by Abdel Aziz Hakim. Jaafari, one of the two former vice...

Something truly historic happened in Iraq the other day. For the first time since the creation of Iraq as a state in 1921, a leadership that has emerged from free and fair elections was able to agree on a nominee for the post of prime minister. But this is not the only reason why the occasion was historic. There is also the fact that Ibrahim Jaafari, the 58-year-old physician chosen for the job, is a Shiite Muslim. To be sure Jaafari is not the first Shiite to get the job in Iraq. The current interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has touched off a diplomatic flap with Iraq's incoming government by questioning whether the leading candidate to become the next prime minister is too close to Iran's ayatollahs. The likely new prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, shot back at Clinton, who just completed a visit to Iraq, by questioning her credibility as a spokeswoman for U.S. foreign policy. "Hillary Clinton, as far as I know, does not represent any political decision or the American administration and I don't know why she said this," al-Jaafari told The Times of London. "She knows nothing about the Iraq...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi announced Wednesday he's forming a broad coalition to fight for the post of prime minister after Iraq's dominant Shiite political party nominated a conservative for the job. "There are other lists and other brothers in smaller lists which won the elections, and we are working with some of those lists to form a national Iraqi democratic coalition which believes in Iraq and its principles," Allawi told a news conference. Allawi said he considered al-Jaafari an "honorable man," but when asked if he feared that the alliance could impose Islamic rule in Iraq,...