Iraq's Cabinet Backs Contentious Oil Measure (Joshua Partlow and Ernesto Londoño)

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Shiite Vice President Injured by Bombing in Ministry Building.

By Joshua Partlow and Ernesto Londoño -- Washington Post

Feb. 27, 2007 -- BAGHDAD, Feb. 26 -- Iraq's cabinet approved draft legislation Monday that would enable the government to manage the country's vast oil resources and distribute revenue throughout the country, a step toward meeting a U.S. demand that the country's parliament pass such a law.

But in a reminder of Iraq's continuing instability, Adel Abdul Mahdi, one of the country's two vice presidents, narrowly avoided assassination Monday morning when a bomb exploded inside a crowded third-floor conference room at a government ministry in Baghdad's Mansour district.

Abdul Mahdi, one of Iraq's most influential Shiite politicians, was walking toward the podium at an awards ceremony at the Public Works Ministry when explosives detonated beneath the seats, striking him with shrapnel but causing only minor wounds, according to Zuhair Hamadi, an adviser to the vice president.