Bayan Jabber

Iraqi lawmakers overwhelmingly approved an ethnically and religiously diverse Cabinet on Thursday, but gaping holes in the new administration and continued sectarian wrangling marred the historic day. Five ministries, including oil and defense, received only caretaker chiefs. Two deputy premierships also remained unfilled, indicating that the long negotiations to seat the nation's first freely elected government in half a century were not yet concluded.

Iraqi lawmakers overwhelmingly approved an ethnically and religiously diverse Cabinet on Thursday, but gaping holes in the new administration and continued sectarian wrangling marred the historic day. Five ministries, including oil and defense, received only caretaker chiefs. Two deputy premierships also remained unfilled, indicating that the long negotiations to seat the nation's first freely elected government in half a century were not yet concluded.

Iraq's new prime minister Wednesday proposed a Cabinet of three dozen ministers drawn from the nation's major ethnic and religious groups, heralding the end of a three-month political impasse that had contributed to an atmosphere of instability.

Iraq's Shiite Muslim leadership, alarmed by a surge in attacks as the new government prepares to take office, plans to crack down on Sunni-led insurgents and purge suspected infiltrators and corrupt officers from the nation's security forces, officials and lawmakers say. A likely tactic, authorities say, is unleashing well-trained Iraqi commandos in Baghdad and other trouble spots. The special forces units have a reputation for effectiveness and brutality.