Iraq is now a sovereign country, you know: ""Today was a major positive, but there are tough days ahead, especially with regard to the selection of ministers," Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador to Iraq, said in an interview. He said he told Mr. Maliki on Friday of the importance of independent ministers, and of the need to eliminate militias from the Iraqi security forces and to scale back the Shiite-backed program that bars former Baathists from many jobs in the Iraqi government and institutions. "I met with him for a long time today and he was very positive," Mr. Khalilzad said." As for the new Prime Minister, "Mr. Maliki pushed proposals aimed at the Sunni-dominated insurgency that called for the death penalty not only for those who commit murder but also for anyone, he said last year, found to "finance, propagate, cover up, support or provide shelter for the terrorists, no matter how involved they are.""