Initial data suggest compromise needed

The election itself exposed the nation's deep division.
Combined dispatches
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Initial results from Iraq's national elections suggest that the country's new government will have to be forged by compromise despite resentment and suspicion among Iraq's Shiite Muslims, Sunni Muslims and Kurds.
Shiites took a strong lead in the early count, but may not win enough seats in parliament to form a government without a coalition partner. That suggests either national reconciliation or the threat of a dangerous stalemate that could push the country closer to civil war.
The election itself exposed the nation's divisions, as most Iraqis voted along strict sectarian lines.
In the first batch of voting data released by the Iraqi government since last Thursday's parliamentary elections -- based on a count of about 7.2 million out of an estimated 11 million votes -- a cleric-formed Shiite party dominated the field with more than 3.4 million votes and took the majority of National Assembly seats allotted by province.
However, there are plans to form a coalition to oppose the Shiites, who make up 60 percent of the population. Formed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and a group of Sunni parties, this coalition could prevent the Shiites from getting the two-thirds' vote needed to form the government in the 275-person parliament.
Detainees released
Meanwhile, a group of high-ranking Iraqi officials from the previous regime, including two female biological weapons experts respectively known as Dr. Germ and Mrs. Anthrax, have been released after almost three years in detention, American officials said Monday.
Dubbed "Dr. Germ" for her involvement in Saddam Hussein's biological weapons, Rihab Taha was one of eight people released, according to the U.S. military. Another was Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a former top Baath Party official known as "Mrs. Anthrax."
On the deck of cards showing the most wanted officials from Saddam Hussein's regime, Ammash was the five of hearts for her role in Iraq's biological warfare program.
American officials deemed that the eight prisoners no longer posed a security threat and released them Saturday, said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq.
On Monday, a group known as the Islamic Army in Iraq posted a video and a statement on the Internet showing a man on his knees, blindfolded and handcuffed, as he is shot from behind by a gunman. Whether the footage showed Ronald Schulz, an American contractor in Baghdad, was unclear. In its statement the group said that "the arrogance of Bush was a major reason for his killing."