Well, they finally stood up

And walked out:

BAGHDAD - Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc announced its withdrawal from the government Wednesday, undermining efforts to seek reconciliation among the country's rival factions, and three bombings in Baghdad killed at least 70 people.

[snip]

The White House on Wednesday downplayed the significance of the Accordance Front's leaving the government. Press secretary Tony Snow said that while it is important for all the political blocs to participate, reconciliation efforts are ongoing. He noted that Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and the minister of defense, both Sunnis, remain in place.

"We're keeping an eye on the situation, but let's keep in mind that it is not a complete withdrawal from the political process," Snow said.

The Accordance Front has 44 of parliament's 275 seats. Its withdrawal from the 14-month-old government is the second such action by a faction of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's "national unity" coalition. Five Cabinet ministers loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr quit the government in April to protest al-Maliki's reluctance to announce a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

Rafaa al-Issawi, a leading member of the Accordance Front, said at a news conference Wednesday that the Sunni bloc's six Cabinet ministers would submit their resignations later in the day.

Al-Issawi said the decision to pull out from the government followed what he called al-Maliki's failure to respond to the Accordance Front. It gave him seven days to meet its demands, and the ultimatum expired Wednesday.

But it's our oil!

I mean... Cheney says so!

WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, wants passage of an oil law stripped from a list of Iraq war funding legislation benchmarks due on the House floor next week.

Kucinich announced Wednesday an amendment to Iraq war supplemental funding legislation that would, in part, set six "performance measures" for the Baghdad government in order to receive more funding from Congress later this year.

"We must remove this benchmark from the supplemental and work to ensure any hydrocarbon law put in place is truly the best interests of all Iraqi people," Kucinich said in a statement.

Measure No. 2 requires the Iraqi government adopt and implement "a law to allow oil revenue to be shared with all citizens of Iraq."

While Iraqi parties previously at odds have recently signed a tentative agreement on governing Iraq's vast hydrocarbons reserves, the deal was reached after heavy pressure by the United States.

Two main political parties, the Iraqi Accordance Front and the Iraqi National Slate, have said they oppose the draft law, which needs to passed by Parliament to take effect. (Other accompanying measures must also be agreed upon, which is not assured, before Parliament votes.)

The Iraq oil unions, which represent tens of thousands of workers, have also opposed the law.

At issue is whether the oil sector, which has been nationalized for decades, should allow foreign companies the same access as Iraqi national oil companies, which the United States has called for.

"The United States should not be requiring Iraq to open their oil fields to private foreign companies as a condition of ending our occupation. The administration's strong push to enact a hydrocarbon law has little to do with the needs of the Iraqi people," Kucinich said.

"Instead it is a concerted effort to ensure that American oil companies are granted access to Iraqi oil fields. By adopting this benchmark in the supplemental, and requiring the enactment of this law by the Iraqi government, Democrats will be instrumental in privatizing Iraqi oil."