Analysis: Iraq PM Gets Double Good News

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, center, flanked by his Shiite interior minister Jawad al-Bolani, left, and Sunni Defence Minister Iraqi Army Gen. Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim al-Mifarji, right, speaks to the media in Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, June 8, 2006. Iraq's parliament approved new ministers of defense, interior and national security on Thursday, ending a three week stalemate among Iraq's sectarian and ethnic parties over the crucial posts. (AP Photo/Ahmad al-Rubaye, Pool) (Ahmad Al-rubaye - AP)

The new national security minister, Sherwan al-Waili, who will advise the prime minister on security matters, also is a Shiite but also considered neutral.

With those three key Cabinet posts now filled, al-Maliki can presumably turn to the still-overwhelming tasks ahead _ including reining in militias and getting Iraqi forces trained and cohesive enough to slowly take over from the U.S. military.

For an Iraqi public that craves security, that would be good news. And al-Maliki's announcement of the death of al-Zarqawi could create a well of good will and support, just what he needs to take on other, difficult security tasks like shutting down militias.

Yet despite Thursday's success, no one expects the way to be easy for al-Maliki, a veteran insider in Iraq's oldest Shiite political party who spent years in exile after receiving a death sentence from Saddam's regime.

While his more pragmatic stance may have helped resolve the Cabinet stalemate, al-Maliki still will need much help from both his fellow Iraqis and other Arabs, all working to "take advantage of the gap left behind by al-Zarqawi to gain back his followers," said one political analyst, Mohammed El-Sayed of the Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies in Cairo.

Thursday's events make clear that al-Maliki is determined to try.

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Sally Buzbee, the AP's Chief of Middle East News, reports often from Iraq.