Obama applauds nomination of new Iraqi PM as 'step forward'

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Aug. 11 Iraq had taken "a promising step forward" in designating a new prime minister, vowing to step up support for a new Iraqi government in a widening conflict that his administration had hoped to avoid.

Speaking to reporters in the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard, where he is vacationing with his family, Obama said Iraq had made important strides toward rebuffing fighters from the Islamic State, an al-Qaeda offshoot, since the United States authorized air strikes last week.

He urged the quick formation of an inclusive government to address the needs of all Iraqis."Today Iraq took a promising step forward in this critical effort," Obama said in brief remarks.

Obama's comments and a congratulatory telephone call he made to Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi signal the administration's expectation, or hope, that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's 8-year-rule is all but over, even as Maliki shows no sign of relinquishing power.

"They're treating him like he's the prime minister already," Michael Knights, a Boston-based fellow and Iraq scholar at the Washington Institute, said of Abadi. "Now the U.S. can press on with its offer of enhanced security cooperation with Iraq."

Maliki, a Shiite Muslim Islamist blamed by Washington for driving the alienated Sunni minority into a revolt that is fueling the Islamic State's brutal insurgency, deployed militias and special forces on the streets on Monday in a potentially dangerous political showdown.

Obama urged Abadi to quickly form a new cabinet that represents Iraq's different ethnic and religious communities. "This new Iraqi leadership has a difficult task," Obama said. "It has to regain the confidence of...