What suckers for staying are you.
"Two Shi’ite coalitions join forces in new Iraq government; Move is seen likely to alienate nation’s Sunni minority" by Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press | May 6, 2010
BAGHDAD — An agreement signed by the two main Iranian-backed Shi’ite blocs seeking to govern Iraq gives the final decision on all their political disputes to top Shi’ite clerics, according to a copy obtained by the Associated Press yesterday.
If the alliance succeeds in forming the next government, the provision could increase the role of senior clergy in politics. The provision would probably further alienate Iraq’s Sunni minority, which had been hoping the March election would boost their say in the country.
The newly announced alliance between the Shi’ite blocs practically ensures they will form the core of any new government and squeeze out the top vote getter, Ayad Allawi’s Iraqiya list, which received heavy Sunni support.
Even though he is also Shiite?
But the terms of the alliance show the deep distrust between the two Shi’ite partners and seek to limit the powers of the prime minister.
A leading member of the prime minister’s coalition who signed the agreement on Tuesday confirmed that it gives a small group of clerics led by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani the last word on any disputes between the two allied blocs....
Sort of like an arbiter, right?
So what exactly is wrong with that?
The Iranian-born cleric, who is in his 80s, is the most revered religious figure among Shi’ites in Iraq.
Gotcha.
He offers his counsel behind the scenes to senior politicians who privately seek his guidance and support. But he has shunned a public role and opposes a Shi’ite philosophy that gives direct rule to clerics, as in Iran.
They trying to say he is one of the "good" ones?
Sistani has played a major role in keeping stability while ensuring the unity and domination of the Shi’ites. But his inability to stop the brutal Shi’ite-Sunni violence of 2006 and 2007 has shown the limitations of his authority.
Related: Memory Hole: The Dream Vacation
Memory Hole: The Uniters of Islam
Occupation Iraq: Sectarian Saviors
Also see: Occupation Iraq: Tortured Logic
Yeah, that is pretty f***ed up.
The deal is between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law coalition and the conservative Shi’ite Iraqi National Alliance, which comprises the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and followers of anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
See: Occupation Iraq: Sadr Crowns Maliki King
Neighboring Iran, a Shi’ite theocracy carries great influence with both groups and has long pushed for such an alliance.
THEY are the BENEFICIARY of OUR INVASION?
Something on your boots, soldier.
Iraq’s Sunnis have been sidelined since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein....
Yeah, how did that go, anywa.... what do you mean we are STILL THERE?
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"Shi’ite militia has revival in Iraq after elections" by Hamza Hendawi and Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press | May 8, 2010
BAGHDAD — A once-feared Shi’ite militia that was crippled two years ago by defections and a US-Iraqi crackdown has quietly started to regroup, adding street muscle to the Shi’ite party that emerged strongest from Iraq’s parliamentary elections.
The revival of the Mahdi Army, loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, could be an ominous sign. A Sadr spokesman said the force is gearing up to ensure US forces stick to a Dec. 31, 2011, deadline to withdraw from the country — threatening attacks on American troops if they stay past the date.
Blame them, "Al-CIA-Duh," or whomever.
IT IS TIME TO LEAVE, AmeriKa!!!
EVERY SINGLE SHOE, including mercenary contractors.
In the near term, Sunnis fear the militia will turn its firepower against their community in vengeance after an uptick in militant violence against Shi’ites in recent months, a move that could revive the fierce sectarian bloodshed that nearly tore the nation apart in 2006 and 2007.
Told ya!
Sadr disbanded the militia in 2008. But his spokesman, Salah al-Obeidi, told the Associated Press that it has officially been revived.
The militia’s armed wing, called the Promised Day Brigade, will “prepare quietly to launch qualitative attacks against the occupiers [US forces] if they stay beyond 2011,’’ he said. “It will have a big role to play to drive them out of Iraq.’’
In a show of the movement’s new boldness, Sadr offered to help Iraqi security forces — who have almost no visible presence in their eastern Baghdad stronghold — protect Shi’ites after a wave of bombings April 23 targeted their places of worship. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not respond, and a top aide, Ali al-Adeeb, expressed doubt that the government would accept the offer.
Yeah, why would the POLICE want HELP from the COMMUNITY, 'eh, Amurkn?
Smell something, do you?
So Sadr took matters into his own hands. Last Friday, his militiamen deployed at the sites of the weekly Muslim prayers organized by the Sadrists in Baghdad’s Sadr City — home to some 2.5 million Shi’ites — and across the Shi’ite south of Iraq, throwing a security ring around their mosques, searching worshipers and vehicles.
Hey, only our stooges are supposed to do that.
The Mahdi Army’s return comes during a dangerous political vacuum resulting from the inconclusive March 7 vote. No political bloc emerged with the parliamentary majority needed to form a new government, sparking wrangling between Maliki and his top rival, Ayad Allawi.
Any excuse to stay.
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BAGHDAD — Patience has been wearing thin over the delay in announcing final results more than two months after the close March 7 parliamentary election....
Iraq’s political parties have made little progress toward forming a new government since the vote more than two months ago, and the two main Shi’ite parties have formed an alliance and are now disputing the right of Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc, which won the most seats, to form the next government.
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BAGHDAD -- Shiite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi stressed the importance of quickly forming a government that does not exclude any major political group to try to prevent insurgents from exploiting Iraq's fragile security.
"The terrorist gangs perpetrated new assaults today on our people and armed forces," he said. "We call on all political blocs to work seriously for the benefit of the country and ... start to form a national partnership government including all political parties without marginalizing any one."
More than two months after the March 7 election, Iraq's main political factions are still struggling to put together a ruling coalition. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite bloc has tried to squeeze out election front-runner Ayad Allawi -- a secular Shiite who was heavily backed by Sunnis -- by forging an alliance last week with another religious Shiite coalition.
The union, which is just four seats short of a majority in parliament, will likely lead to four more years of a government dominated by Shiites, much like the current one.
On Monday, Allawi told reporters he has been trying for days to meet with al-Maliki and begin hammering out a compromise, but to no avail. He vowed to fight attempts to overturn the election results and called for an end to efforts to disqualify some of his Iraqiya coalition's winning candidates.
Sunni anger at Shiite domination of successive governments was a key reason behind the insurgency that sparked sectarian warfare in 2006 and 2007. If Allawi is perceived as not getting his fair share of power, that could in turn outrage the Sunnis who supported him and risk a resurgence of sectarian violence....
Yeah, meanwhile the MSM are also trying to tell us they are all working together.
Can't have it both ways, s***ters.
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BAGHDAD — Despite the setback for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who came in second place by a small margin, his alliance with another Shi’ite bloc still gives him a strong chance of holding on to power for another four years....
Maliki now appears to be in an even better position than he was roughly two weeks ago, when the recount began.
The prime minister’s coalition managed to forge an agreement with another Shi’ite bloc, the Iranian-backed Iraqi National Alliance. Together, the two Shi’ite blocs are only four seats short of needed majority.
If the already bickering coalition holds together, it is almost certain to form the next government, possibly cutting out Allawi’s list altogether.
Hadi Jalo, a political analyst in Baghdad, said Maliki’s goal in demanding the recount was not to change the total, but to stall so he could work out an agreement with his Shi’ite allies....
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"Iraq election impasse wanes as court voids ban on 9 candidates; Ruling clears way for forming new government" by Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press | May 18, 2010
BAGHDAD — An Iraqi court overturned a ban yesterday on nine newly elected Parliament members who had been barred by a committee vetting candidates for ties to Saddam Hussein’s regime, clearing a major hurdle to forming the new government.
The ban of the candidates, seven of them from a Sunni-backed bloc, was seen as an attempt to overturn election results that handed the Shi’ite prime minister a narrow loss and threatened to further delay what has already been a long, contentious election process.
“All the nine appeals were accepted, and we were informed officially about this and now they have the right to join the Parliament as lawmakers,’’ said the Shi’ite head of the committee, Ali al-Lami.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki narrowly lost the March 7 election to Ayad Allawi, a former prime minister and fellow Shi’ite whose nonsectarian stance made him popular with the Sunni minority.
But Maliki has challenged the results at every turn, by demanding a recount of votes cast in Baghdad and benefiting by and sometimes appearing to encourage the actions of the Accountability and Justice Committee, which initially pushed for the ban of the nine winning candidates. If the candidates had been thrown out along with their votes, it could have tilted the election in the prime minister’s favor.
The results of the recount demanded by the prime minister were released Sunday, however, and showed no fraud. They did not change the outcome of the election....
In the intervening time, however, the prime minister was able to create an alliance with a rival, conservative Shi’ite bloc that put him in a solid position to create the next government.
Maliki’s State of Law coalition has formed an alliance with the Iranian-backed Iraqi National Alliance, and now stands just four seats shy of the 163 seats needed to form a majority in Parliament....
You would think they could bribe or buy four votes easily enough, right?
I'm sorry, I meant lobby for them.
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Someone must be standing in the way, right?
"Former prime minister Ayad Allawi met Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the holy city of Najaf, where the cleric lives. He said Sistani said the next government should serve without “excluding and marginalizing any group,’’ an apparent reference to minority Sunnis who have felt politically sidelined since 2003.
No, I was not thinking of the Grand Ayatollah.
The 83-year-old Sistani is revered by Iraq’s majority sect and carries great weight with the country’s Shi’ite politicians, who have dominated the Iraqi government since the US invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated regime....
Yeah, more along those lines.
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