Baghdad: Parliament approved Iraq's new national unity government today, achieving a goal which will hopefully reduce widespread violence so that U.S. forces can eventually go home.
But as the legislators met, at least 27 people were killed and 68 wounded in a series of attacks.
In a show of hands, the 275-member parliament approved each Cabinet minister proposed by the incoming Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
In his first address, Al-Maliki told parliament that he would make restoring stability and security the top priority of his new administration.
He said he would 'work fast' to improve and coordinate Iraqi forces so they can reduce attacks by insurgent groups and militias.
Al-Maliki added that he would set 'an objective timetable to transfer the full security mission to Iraqi forces, ending the mission of the multinational forces.'
But the challenge the new government will face was obvious when Al-Maliki was unable to make a final decision about the top two security porfolios: the Defense Ministry, and the Interior Ministry.
Al-Maliki, who is a Shiite, said he would be the acting interior minister for now, and he made Salam Zikam al-Zubaie, a Sunni Arab, the temporary Defense Minister.
But some legislators were angry by this decision. Before the Cabinet was approved by a show of hands, parliament turned down a motion by Sunni Arab leader Saleh al-Mutlaq to postpone the session.
Al-Mutlaq then walked out with about 10 other Sunni deputies. He had criticized the lack of a decision on the key defense and interior posts and complained that he was asked to give up his political position and rhetoric in return for three ministries: Environment, Women and National Dialogue.
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The United States hopes the new national unity government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds can calm the violence and pave the way for Washington to begin withdrawing U.S. troops.
''This is a historic day for Iraq and all its people,'' Deputy Parliament Speaker Khalid al-Attiyah said at a nationally televised news conference as the legislators gathered.
''It is the first time that a full-term, democratically elected government has been formed in Iraq since the fall of the ousted regime. This government represents all Iraqis,'' declared Al-Attiyah.
Meanwhile, violence continued in Iraq.
At 6:30 a.m. today, several hours before legislators began to arrive at the Green Zone, suspected insurgents set off a bomb hidden in a paper bag in a Shiite district of Baghdad, killing 19 people and wounding 58, police said.
Meanwhile, in the western border town of Qaim, a suicide car bomber killed at least five people and wounded 10 in an attack on a police station, the head of the local hospital said
In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide bomber reportedly trying to target a U.S. military convoy, instead killing three Iraqi civilians.
Elsewhere, police found the bodies of 21 people who apparently had been kidnapped and tortured.
Six were found in Baghdad, and 15 in Musayyib, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) south of the capital.
However, all 21 bodies appeared to be victims of death squads which kidnap and kill hundreds of people in Iraq, to settle personal vendettas, because of sectarian hatred, or in an effort to win ransoms.
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