Cabinet shakeup

The Iraqi paper AlMashriq quotes sources saying 34 high-ranking officers in the Interior Ministry were arrested on allegations of belonging to the Awda Party (neo-Baath), but the the sources said the arrests were "malicious" and were carried out on the orders of the Minister of National Security, for electoral purposes, in order to thwart the plans of the Minister of the Interior, who is currently out of the country. (This isn't explained). The source said the arrested officers are of a high degree of competence and integrity. The Interior Minister is Jawad Bulani, described as a member of the United Iraqi Alliance but an independent; the Minister of National Security is Shirwan Waili, also of the UIA, but a member of the Dawa Party and possibly a Maliki loyalist--I don't know.

The paper doesn't elaborate, but follows this up with a report of a car-bomb attack on the convoy of the Minister of Science and Technology in Baghdad, adding it isn't known whether the Minister was in the convoy or not. The Science Minister is Raed Fahmy Jahid, a member of Allawi's Iraqi List, and a member of the Communist Party of Iraq.