This time not a war but more in the Iraqi government and who will have the most influence in the country. Going to take pieces from it and not the whole story, so if you want to read it all, use the link

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090825/..._mi_ea/ml_iraq
Quote Originally Posted by Sameer N. Yacoub and Hamid Ahmed
The Iranian-backed Shiite parties that helped propel Iraq's prime minister into power three years ago dumped him Monday as their candidate for re-election, forming a new alliance to contest the January vote.

The move dealt a blow to Nouri al-Maliki's chances to keep his job next year and set the stage for a showdown between competing factions in the Shiite coalition that had dominated Iraq's government since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Al-Maliki now faces pressure to make a deal with minority Sunni parties to strengthen his position.
Quote Originally Posted by Sameer N. Yacoub and Hamid Ahmed
The new bloc, called the Iraqi National Alliance, will include the largest Shiite party, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, or SIIC, and al-Sadr's bloc, which both have close ties to Tehran.

Although some small Sunni and secular parties are joining the alliance, many Sunnis consider the Supreme Council as little more than an instrument of Shiite Iran.

If the alliance does well in the Jan. 16 vote, Tehran could gain deeper influence in Iraq as U.S. forces pull back, with a full American withdrawal planned by the end of 2011.
His loyalists ousted the Supreme Council from control of the oil-rich southern Shiite heartland in provincial elections earlier this year, raising concern among other Shiite politicians that internal divisions could cost them seats to Sunnis in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

But the unrelenting explosions — including two suicide truck bombings against the foreign and finance ministries that killed scores last week — have weakened his position at a crucial time.

He stayed out of the new alliance because leaders refused to guarantee him the prime minister's spot, officials said. Rumored possibilities for the job include new alliance members ex-Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, current Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi and even Former Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, a one-time Pentagon favorite.
The prime minister instead is working to form an alternate coalition. He is reaching out to a prominent Sunni sheik in Anbar province, whose followers include fighters who joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq.

Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha said his representatives met with al-Maliki's advisers on Sunday to discuss forming "a national and nonsectarian alliance."

He praised al-Maliki for cracking down on Shiite militias and supporting the anti-al-Qaida movement that has spread nationwide and is considered a key factor in a sharp decline in overall violence over the past two years.

Despite Monday's announcement, the new Shiite alliance was careful to leave the door open for the Dawa Party to join later.
The coalition will replace the United Iraqi Alliance, which won control of parliament in the last parliamentary elections in December 2005 but began to unravel later with the withdrawal of two major factions and the bitter rivalry between al-Maliki and the Supreme Council.