Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki presented his national reconciliation plan yesterday, but it was short on details on how he aimed to end what he called the ugly reality of life in Iraq.
In a reminder of the brutality, an Internet posting claiming the killing of four Russian embassy workers kidnapped in Baghdad by an al Qaeda group on June 3 showed a man being beheaded.
If authenticated, it was the first such video killing for many months and the first since al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed three weeks ago. The group, which was demanding Russian troops leave Chechnya, has vowed revenge.
Mr Maliki's 24-point plan was the subject of tough negotiations among the fractious sectarian and ethnic parties in the ruling coalition and omitted much that is controversial. It left vague which militant groups the government was ready to negotiate with and what it would do about pro-government militias.
Listing examples of bloodshed and chaos, the Shi'ite Islamist Maliki, confirmed in office a month ago after months of stalemate, said: "We must put an end to this ugly picture."
Car bombs and shootings across Iraq killed 22 people, and 16 government workers were snatched north of Baghdad in the same area where dozens of factory workers were abducted last week.
In a sign of US allies' eagerness to quit Iraq, Japan began the withdrawal of its 550 troops from the south.
After a 15-minute parliamentary speech, Mr Maliki won approval from leaders of the Sunni minority dominant under Saddam Hussein but he insisted he would not negotiate with Saddam's followers or al Qaeda Islamists, the mainstays of the insurgency.
"No and a thousand times no," he said. "There can be no deal with them until they have been justly punished."
He offered an "olive branch" to all those prepared to take part in building a new Iraq but, contrary to some speculation, there was no bold public call for talks with Sunni insurgents.
US envoy to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad called the plan a good step "to mend Iraq's wounds". He urged insurgents to "lay down their arms and join the democratic process" but said Saddam's followers and "terrorists" were irreconcilable with the plan.
But Mr Maliki did promise a review of laws that bar members of Saddam's Baath party from public office and the military.
Nor was there clear new language on dealing with the party militias, mostly backers of the Shi'ite and Kurdish groups in the government. Instead, the reconciliation plan followed much of the outline of Mr Maliki's government platform issued last month.
"There will be an amnesty for those who did not take part in criminal and terrorist acts and war crimes," said Mr Maliki, echoing calls for the US military to address Sunni grievances about the 13,000 mostly Sunni men held without charge. Sources close to militant groups in western Iraq said they were unimpressed by the premier's offers. One who says he speaks for the mostly Baathist Mohammed Army said the plan ignored its main demands, including the immediate withdrawal of US forces.