Juan Cole - 03/05/06

Muqtada Warns Talabani on "interference"

United Iraqi Alliance politicians continued Saturday to insist that the party would continue to back Ibrahim Jaafari as the new prime minister, despite attempts by Kurds (especially President Jalal Talabani) and Sunnis to push him aside. Jaafari has angered Kurds by his attempts to involve Turkey in Iraqi affairs to offset Kurdish power, and by his opposition to ceding the oil-rich Kirkuk province to the Kurdistan Regional Confederacy.