Iraqi Cabinet

More details of the new Iraqi cabinet are now out. The big and rather ominous surprise is that Ahmad Chalabi is the temporary Petroleum Minister. It has not in the past been easy to pry him out of positions once in them. And, in the past, whenever he has been around big money, a lot of it has mysteriously disappeared. Some are saying that at least he has the background to deal with foreign oil companies. But lots of Iraqis have such a background. The point is that Chalabi doesn't know anything about the petroleum industry and also has a poor business reputation to put it lightly.

I wonder if this appointment was a sop to the more secular-leaning members of the United Iraqi Alliance, who must have been extremely alarmed that the fundamentalist Fadila Party was making a bid for petroleum minister. It should be remembered that in contemporary Iraq, as in Jacksonian America, cabinet posts are sources of patronage and wealth, since there is a sort of spoils system. Chalabi will place his Iraqi National Congress members throughout the ministry.

It seems clear that Jaafari was in fact unable to form a complete cabinet, and punted by leaving several cabinet positions open, leaving final negotiations with the Sunni Arab faction, e.g., to the future.

CNN gives the posts this way:

"Top jobs

# Prime minister: Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Shiite Arab

# Deputy prime minister: Rowsch Shaways, Kurd

# Deputy prime minister: Ahmed Chalabi, Shiite Arab

# Two deputy prime minister posts: unfilled.

Shiites

# Interior minister: Baqir Jabbur

# Construction and housing minister: Jassim Jaafar

# Finance minister: Ali Allawi

# Education minister: Abdul Falah Hassan

# Higher education minister: Sami al-Mudhaffar

# Health minister: Abdul Mottalib Ali

# Agriculture minister: Ali al-Bahadli

# Justice minister: Abdul Hussein Shandal

# Minister of transport: Salam al-Maliki

# Migration and displacement minister: Suhaila Jaafar, female

# Minister of state for national security affairs: Abdul Karim al-Inizy

# Minister of state for civil community affairs: Alaa Kadhim

# Minister of state for tourism and archaeology affairs: Hashim al-Hashimi

# Minister of state for national assembly affairs: Safa al-Din al-Safi

Kurds

# Foreign minister: Hoshyar Zebari

# Planning and development cooperation minister: Barham Salih

# Communications minister: Jwan Maasoum, female

# Labor and social affairs minister: Idris Hadi

# Water resources minister: Abdul Latif Rashid

# Municipalities and public works minister: Nasreen Berwari, female

# Environmental minister, Narmin Othman, female

Sunni Arabs

# Trade minister: Abdul Bassit Mawloud

# Culture minister: Nouri Farhan al-Rawi

# Minister of state for women affairs: Azhar al-Sheikhli, female

# Minister of state for provinces affairs: Saad al-Hardan

Christian

# Science and technology minister: Bassima Boutros, female

Turkmen

# Youth and sports minister: Talib Aziz Zayni

Temporary positions

# Acting defense minister: al-Jaafari (expected to go to a Sunni)

# Acting electricity minister: Shaways (expected to go to a Shiite)

# Acting oil minister: Chalabi (expected to go to a Shiite)

# Acting human rights minister: Othman

# Acting industry and minerals minister: Muslih al-Jubburi, a Sunni."