By Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 8, 2006

BAGHDAD, Jan. 7 -- In a series of public statements Saturday, Western officials condemned a wave of recent attacks in Iraq, saying the violence was intended to derail Iraqi efforts to form a government based on national unity.

At the same time, Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, said that Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish political groups were working toward that end. In a meeting in the capital with Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary, he said Iraqi parties had agreed in principle on a coalition of national unity, the Associated Press reported.

But a Western diplomat who briefed reporters here said he expected a "complicated negotiation" involving several sides now that Sunni Arab parties appear to have won enough seats in recent elections to play a role in the process of forming a government.

It was a change, he said, from the two-sided political environment that followed elections last January. In that election, Sunni Arabs, who represent about 20 percent of Iraq's population, turned out in very small numbers, yielding the political initiative to Shiite and Kurdish parties.

"Last spring, it was the Shia and the Kurds. It was a very straightforward negotiation," said the diplomat, who gave the briefing on condition he not be named. "This time it may have three, four, even five sides to it."

He said that talks about a coalition government were now in an "exploratory" stage and that once final election results were announced near the end of the month, negotiations would shift "from second to fifth gear sort of overnight."

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who was in Iraq Saturday as part of a visiting congressional delegation, also stressed the importance of forming a government quickly.

"It seems to me you've got a six-month window in which a national unity government has to be formed," in addition to finalizing the country's constitution, making major progress in repairing its infrastructure and improving security, Obama said in an interview. "Time is not necessarily on our side."

Ultimately, Obama said, "there has to be a recognition on the part of the Sunnis that they're a minority of the population." In turn, he said, the Shiite majority needs to recognize the rights of Sunni Arabs.

But the Western diplomat said the insurgent attacks Wednesday and Thursday, which killed nearly 200 Iraqis and 11 U.S. service members, were intended to drive a wedge between Sunni Arabs and Shiites.

Two attacks on Saturday appeared to fit the same pattern. A suicide car bomber blew himself up next to an Interior Ministry police patrol, killing one officer and wounding 11 people, the Associated Press reported. A few hours later, gunmen fired on a car in Baghdad, killing a woman and wounding two men, the news service reported.

The Western diplomat noted, however, that one recent attack -- on a police recruiting station in Ramadi on Thursday -- killed dozens of Sunni Arabs and appeared to have broken the patience of tribal leaders who have provided support to insurgent groups.

People in the region are "now publicly calling for an end to the violence," he said. "I don't want to declare victory, because there's a long way to go, but something different is happening."

Special correspondent Omar Fekeiki contributed to this report.