Body Of U.S. Pilot Found
One of two pilots whose Marine Corps fighter jets were reported missing in Iraq has been found, and investigators have concluded that their planes likely collided in the air, a senior defense official said Tuesday.
U.S. officials in Baghdad said the search was continuing.
At the Pentagon, an official with access to details of the search said an emergency beacon from one of the F/A-18 jets was detected on the ground about 15 miles southwest of Karbala, in south-central Iraq. The official discussed some details on condition of anonymity because the search is not finished.
An ejection seat from one of the jets was found at the site of the emergency beacon, but the official said he was not certain where the body was found.
There was one pilot in each of the single-seat jets, which had launched from the USS John Stennis on Monday. They were reported missing by U.S. military authorities on Monday evening.
The U.S. military said there was no indication of hostile fire in the area when contact was lost with the two warplanes.
The two F/A-18s were flying in support of coalition operations in Iraq, the military said.
In Other Developments:
Iraq's incoming prime minister met Tuesday with the presidential council to finalize the remaining seats in his Cabinet before Iraq's first democratically elected government was sworn in, lawmakers said. Last-minute haggling continued over the defense ministry, which Ibrahim al-Jaafari wants to give to a member of the disaffected Sunni minority.
The approval of a partial Cabinet that largely shut out Sunnis was followed by a torrent of violence. The six-day death toll rose to 153 Tuesday after the body of a missing American pilot was located and coalition forces fought a deadly battle with suspected members of Iraq's most feared terror group near the Syrian border.
At least 35 Iraqis were killed Monday, including eight soldiers cut down by a suicide attacker who blew up a truck at a checkpoint south of the capital, and six civilians caught in a car bombing that set fire to a Baghdad apartment building. An American and a British soldier were also killed in separate roadside bombings.
The skyrocketing attacks are blamed on an insurgency believed largely made up of members of Iraq's Sunni minority, who dominated for decades under Saddam Hussein but were excluded from meaningful positions in a partial new Cabinet announced Thursday.
Al-Jaafari has filled six of the seven Cabinet position left undecided last week, according to his aide Laith Kuba. On Tuesday, he discussed the names with President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents, who must sign off on them before they are submitted to parliament for a vote, Kuba said.
But as members of the 275-member National Assembly started meeting Tuesday morning, lawmakers said candidates were still being discussed for the defense ministry.
Al-Jaafari had promised to form a government that would win over Sunni moderates and reduce Sunni support for the deadly insurgency, offering them six ministries and a deputy premiership. But Sunni politicians insisted they be given at least seven ministerial portfolios.
On Sunday, Kurdish factions agreed to give up one of their ministries to meet the Sunnis' demand, said Azad Junduiani, spokesman for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two main Kurdish parties.
Salih al-Mutlag, head of the National Dialogue Council, a coalition of 10 Sunni factions, identified the Sunni deputy prime minister as Abid Mutlag al-Juburi, a former major general in Saddam's army. He said three candidates were being discussed for defense minister: Hamid Obeid and Ahmed Rikan, both former generals under Saddam, and Mohammed Hassan.
Members of al-Jaafari's Shiite-dominated alliance refused to confirm any names before President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents sign off on them, and they are presented to the National Assembly for a vote.
Al-Jaafari wanted to have all positions finalized before the new Cabinet was sworn in Tuesday, Kuba said. But the ceremony was expected to go ahead even if there were still vacancies, the aide said.
On Jan. 30, millions of Iraqis risked their lives to elect the Shiite-dominated assembly, but many Sunnis boycotted the vote or stayed home for fear of attacks at the polls.
After months of wrangling, al-Jaafari has drawn up a Cabinet that so far includes 15 Shiite Arab ministers, seven Kurds, four Sunnis and one Christian. Two of four deputy prime ministers have also been approved, a Shiite and a Kurd.
Al-Jaafari said he would act as defense minister until one was agreed. And former Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi, the Shiite deputy prime minister, was given temporary responsibility for the key oil ministry.