The two major developments in Iraq over this past week have been (1) the formation of Iraq’s first democratically elected government and (2) the reaction of the terrorist opposition, which has expressed its views by a string of bloody attacks. I’m sure you have read enough of these things elsewhere, so I decided not to do a full post on this, but what I haven’t seen elsewhere in English is a list of the names of the ministers in the new government.

This is the new government list according to the Iraqi newspaper Al-Bawaba. Obviously this is a government with way too many ministers, but this was necessary to make sure all the factions had a place at the table. I have indicated the two places where genuine portfolios have gone unfilled, and omitted entries where the same minister is listed more than once to fill a vacancy in the interim (i.e. both Jaafari and Chalabi hold interim positions not listed):

• Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari
• Deputy Prime Minister Rawaz Nuri Shawis
• Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi
• Minister of the Interior Baqir Sulagh
• Foreign Minister Hushari Zubari
• Minister of Finance Ali Abd al-Amir Allawi
• Minister of Petroleum – unfilled
• Minister of Defense – unfilled
• Minister of Industry & Mineral Resources Maslah al-Jaburi (interim)
• Minister of Justice Abd al-Hussein Shandal
• Minister of Environmental Affairs Nirmin Othman
• Minister of Housing & Construction Jasim Muhammad Jaafar
• Minister of Education Abd al-Filah Hassan
• Minister of Higher Education Sami al-Muthfar
• Minister of Health Abd al-Mutalib Muhammad Ali
• Minister of Planning & Development Barham Salih
• Minister of Communications Juwan Fuad Ma’sum
• Minister of Commerce Abd al-Basit Karim Mawlud
• Minister of Agriculture Ali al-Bihadli
• Minister of Labor & Social Affairs Idris Hadi
• Minister of Water Resources Latif Rashid
• Minister of Transportation Salam Maliki
• Minister of Culture Nuri Farhan al-Rawi
• Minister of Science & Technological Affairs Basima Yusef Butrus
• Minister of Immigration Sahila abd Jaafar
• Minister of Sports & Youth Affairs Talib Aziz Zinni
• Minister of Provinces & Public Works Nisrin Bruari
• Minister of National Security Abd al-Karim al-Anzi
• Minister of Governates Suad Naif al-Hardan
• Minister of State for Civil Society Ala Habib Kathim
• Minister of Women’s Affairs Azhar al-Shaykhli
• Minister of Tourism & Antiquities Hashim al-Hashimi
• Minister of Affairs for the National Assembly Safa al-Din Muhammad al-Safi

Contributed by Kirk H. Sowell of Window on the Arab World, and More!