Iraqi First Deputy Speaker, From Sadr Bloc, Resigns Amid Queries - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Former Iraqi premier and head of the secular Iraqiya coalition, Iyad Allawi (R) holds a joint news conference with Qusay al Suhail, a top figure of the al-Sadr block (L) in Baghdad, August 17, 2010. Allawi said on Tuesday his Sunni-backed Iraqiya alliance would intensify talks with an anti-American Shi'ite movement to try to break a political stalemate. Iraq has been in a political deadlock since a March 7 election which produced no outright winner, raising tensions ahead of an end to U.S. combat operations

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Former Iraqi premier and head of the secular Iraqiya coalition, Iyad Allawi (R) holds a joint news conference with Qusay al Suhail, a top figure of the al-Sadr block (L) in Baghdad, August 17, 2010. Allawi said on Tuesday his Sunni-backed Iraqiya alliance would intensify talks with an anti-American Shi'ite movement to try to break a political stalemate. Iraq has been in a political deadlock since a March 7 election which produced no outright winner, raising tensions ahead of an end to U.S. combat operations

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