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I RAQ

in recent years there have been some incidents of violence between Kurdish Muslims and Assyrian Christians. The Assyrian Christian population in Iraq is estimated at between 600,000 and 1 million. T HE G OVERNMENT OF I RAQ Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003, the Bush administration hoped to establish a democratic govern- ment in Iraq. After several attempts, an Iraqi Governing Council was established, with 25 members representing Iraq’s various sec- tarian groups. The Governing Council’s powers were very limited, however. In addition, because its members were chosen by U.S. authorities in the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the Governing Council never gained the trust of the Iraqi people. In March 2004 the Governing Council passed an interim consti- tution, which paved the way for the announcement of an interim prime minister the following month. In June the CPA formally transferred authority to Iraq’s interim government, which was headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a Shiite. A Sunni was chosen for the largely ceremonial post of interim president. In January 2005, Iraqis voted for members of the Transitional National Assembly. The United Iraqi Alliance, a Shiite party, won the most seats. Kurdish parties also made a strong showing, large- ly because most Sunnis boycotted the election. A new constitu- tion—which was supposed to create a federal democracy—was approved in October 2005. In elections held in December to select members of a permanent parliament, called the Council of Representatives, the United Iraqi Alliance again came out on top. Still, it did not gain a majority of seats, and while Iraq was being torn apart by sectarian violence, months of political gridlock ensued. Finally, a government was formed under Nouri al-Maliki of the Shiite Dawa Party. In Iraq’s current government, the president is the head of state,