With U.S. troops barely gone, Iraq's government is breaking apart [View all]

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BAGHDAD -- Faster than anyone expected, barely a month after the last U.S. troops left, Iraq's government appears to be coming apart, prompting fears that the country is headed for another round of sectarian strife.

Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, is driving to consolidate control and sideline more secular politicians in a battle that increasingly appears to be a fight to the finish in which there can be no compromise.

Barham Salih, the widely admired prime minister of the autonomous Kurdish region in the north, said the infighting is "tearing the country apart." Preemption is the name of the game.

"The motto is: 'I'll have him for lunch before they have me for dinner'," he said during an interview in his office in Irbil.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/22/3385328/with-us-troops-barely-gone-iraqs.html