"Maliki warned to share power" June 22, 2012
BAGHDAD — The speaker of Iraq’s Parliament declared Thursday that lawmakers are prepared to oust the nation’s prime minister if he refuses to share authority with his political opponents and break a deadlock that paralyzed the government.
The threat by the speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi, a leader in the Sunni-dominated Iraqiya political coalition, counters a claim last week by Iraq’s president that there is not enough support in Parliament to call a vote to push Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from power.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Nujaifi said he personally believes that Maliki, a Shi’ite Muslim, should step down from the job he barely won after national elections in 2010 failed to produce a clear winner.
Since then, critics have accused Maliki of sidelining his political opponents and violating agreements to share power within a unity government.
The political deadlock has nearly brought Iraq’s government to a standstill.
Bickering between the Shi’ite-dominated government in Baghdad and the self-ruled Kurdish region in Iraq’s north threatens to stunt vital foreign investment in the country’s lucrative oil industry.
Provinces with majority Sunni populations have threatened to create other autonomous regions. Political lethargy, combined with red tape, has delayed improvements in many areas, including the nation’s electricity system, job creation, and rooting out government corruption.
Oh, it's all their fault now.
The deadlock has continued against a backdrop of sporadic but deadly bursts of violence: 120 Iraqis have been killed over the last 10 days alone in bombings mostly targeting Shi’ite pilgrims and security officials across Baghdad and beyond.
See: Iraqi Cops Tougher Than U.S. Trainers
‘‘This is a dangerous matter that if continued would lead to catastrophic consequences,’’ Nujaifi said as Parliament prepared to return to work after a six-week recess.
He said Maliki would be summoned for questioning in front of Parliament within days.
‘‘And if there is a Parliament majority that is not convinced with the results of the questioning, then the no-confidence vote will take place,’’ Nujaifi said.
He called the process ‘‘an attempt to put the country on the right track again.’’
In April, heeding complaints from his followers, hard-line Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr met with Sunni and Kurdish leaders in what was widely viewed as a summit to plot Maliki’s ouster.
See: Hashimi in Hiding
But on Thursday, Sadr released a statement on his website saying he “tends not to intervene’’ in such matters.
Last week, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said a preliminary count of lawmakers who want Maliki to step down fell four short of the 163 votes needed to force the issue.
Nujaifi denied that, saying that while a few lawmakers backed off, ‘‘the number is still enough.’’
Responding, the prime minister’s media adviser, Ali al-Moussawi, said Maliki will answer Parliament’s questions and respects his opponents’ rights to call for the no-confidence vote.
‘‘But we are confident that they will fail to secure the needed . . . votes,’’ Moussawi said.
Maliki also has called for a special session of Parliament to address lawmakers in public, said Safa al-Din al-Safi, the state minister for Parliament affairs.
A date for that session has not yet been set.
Nujaifi also said he, too, would step down if enough lawmakers voted to expel him — a process he said was firmly guaranteed under Iraq’s Constitution.
‘‘Iraq has efficient and qualified people and figures who can lead Iraq and who can take Iraq into a new horizon,’’ he said.
‘‘Now we are in severe political crisis, and we hope to get out of it.’’
--more--"
"Sadr says Iraqi leader should resign" Associated Press, June 25, 2012
NAJAF, Iraq — In a rare and wide-ranging press conference, Moqtada al-Sadr admonished the Shi’ite-led government, saying it has shut Iraq’s minorities out of power and failed to fix legal systems and other public services.
I guess he reversed himself, huh?
As a result, and to jump-start the nation’s all but paralyzed government, Sadr said he is prepared to direct his party’s 40 lawmakers to support a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — so long as he is assured other political blocs in parliament provide the rest of the 163 votes needed.
His declaration delivers a sharp blow to Maliki’s efforts to hold on to power. The Shi’ite prime minister kept his job after 2010 national elections failed to produce a clear winner only with grudging support from Sadr, an old nemesis....
Sadr has flirted with the prospect of abandoning Maliki for months. The two men have a bitter personal history, going back to when government forces targeted Sadr’s militia at the peak of the 2006-2008 sectarian fighting that almost pushed the country into civil war.
An adviser to Maliki, Ali al-Moussawi, declined to comment on Sadr’s statements.
However, the prime minister’s aides have previously predicted any vote to replace Maliki would fall short — as has Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd.
Also Sunday, an Iraqi press freedom group condemned authorities for ordering the closure of 44 news organizations, including a US-funded radio station. The country’s media commission said it was targeting only unlicensed operations.
--more--"
"In bid to end empasse, Iraq PM threatens early elections" by Kay Johnson | Associated Press, June 28, 2012
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister threatened Wednesday to call early elections that could tighten his grip on power if the nation’s political factions fail to break an impasse that has all but paralyzed the government.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s gambit is the latest in a months-long political crisis in Iraq that has Shi’ites, Sunnis, and Kurds alike calling for his resignation.
Obviously, the agenda-pushing media is not a friend of Maliki. Kicks US out and cozies up to Iran.
The impasse also has fueled fears of a possible flare-up in violence by insurgents seeking to take advantage of the chaos. Bombings targeting a Shi’ite cleric and an anti-Al Qaeda militia fighter killed at least 11 people in Baghdad.
Maliki, a Shi’ite, said continued refusals by his political opponents to negotiate a resolution to the crisis would leave him little choice but to call for a new vote.
‘‘When the other party is refusing to sit down at the negotiating table and insists on the policy of creating continued crises . . . then the prime minister finds himself obliged to call for early elections in which the Iraqi people will have the final say,’’ Maliki said. He did not mention a date for the vote.
Maliki’s threat to hold snap elections comes in response to months of demands for his resignation by Sunni, Kurdish, and some Shi’ite leaders who say he has sidelined them from power.
Who ever imagined democracy and voting was a threat, huh?
I guess it's only a threat when it opposes the agenda and isn't the guy we want to win.
It’s unclear whether they have enough support in Parliament to oust Maliki in a no-confidence vote.
The influential anti-American Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr this week joined Maliki’s opponents in calling for his resignation, raising the stakes against the prime minister.
By countering with a threat to call for early elections, Maliki is betting that his popular support nationwide would hand him a clear-cut victory and assure him undisputed executive authority.
If he's popular nationwide.... sigh.
The current crisis began in December when the government issued terrorism charges against the nation’s highest-ranking Sunni politician, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, as the last US troops were withdrawing from the country. That prompted Sunni politicians to briefly boycott the Cabinet, and government work grounded to a halt.
See: Hashimi in Hiding
Not a very good spot because they know where he is.
The standoff also has raised fears that insurgents could use the political chaos to try to reignite the sectarian animosities that drove Iraq to the brink of civil war five years ago.
Related: Occupation Iraq: Divide and Conquer
Work in progress.
On Wednesday, bombs targeting the Baghdad homes of a Shi’ite cleric and a member of a Sunni militia that fights Al Qaeda killed at least 11 people. The attacks on two of Al Qaeda’s favorite targets brought Iraq’s death toll in June to at least 186, making it the bloodiest month since January.
Maliki’s threat to hold snap elections is in part a response to Sadr’s recent defection from the support base that put Maliki in power after 2010 elections failed to produce a clear winner. The prime minister has mentioned early elections previously as a possibility, and it’s unclear whether he could persuade a majority in Parliament to agree to it.
Maliki’s media adviser, Ali al-Moussawi, said the prime minister still hopes to solve the crisis through negotiations.
The next parliamentary elections are scheduled for 2014. Under the Iraqi constitution, a majority of Parliament’s 325 lawmakers must vote to dissolve the legislature in order to force new elections.
Sunni lawmaker Raad al-Dahlagi scoffed at al-Maliki’s threat, saying the prime minister is trying to avoid making any reforms by ‘‘fleeing from solving the crisis by calling for early elections.’’
--more--"
"DEVASTATION -- Bombings and shootings around Iraq killed 22 people and wounded more than 50 on Thursday, including this targeted site in the town of Taji, about 12 miles north of Baghdad (June 29 2012)."
And I wouldn't had known that had I not purchased a printed Globe.
"Bombs kill 4, judge shot as Iraq attacks grind on" July 02, 2012
BAGHDAD — Bombers killed four people in two Iraqi cities and gunmen assassinated a judge, officials said Sunday, as Al Qaeda’s affiliate stepped up its attacks six months after the last US troops withdrew....
Related: Occupation Iraq: Divide and Conquer
Yup, CIA-Duh, yup.
Government officials and security forces are among the chief targets of Al Qaeda-affiliated insurgents, who specialists say have been emboldened by political feuding that has paralyzed the government and are hoping to reignite ethnic and sectarian fighting.
Sorry, but I NO LONGER BUY THAT PROPAGANDA LINE from the Jewish war media.
--more--"
"Explosions rock Iraq, killing at least 40" by Tim Arango | New York Times, July 04, 2012
BAGHDAD — A Kia truck with explosives hidden in its cargo of watermelons exploded Tuesday in Diwaniyah, a largely Shi’ite city in southern Iraq, leaving at least 40 people dead, including a 6-year-old boy, local officials said. It was the deadliest in a string of attacks Tuesday in central and southern Iraq.
The truck bomb in Diwaniyah was detonated near the city’s main fish and vegetable market, where local officials had reopened the streets to vehicles less than five months ago after keeping them closed for years over security concerns. The area was crowded with morning shoppers at the time of the explosion.
The absolute hallmark of a western intelligence operation.
‘‘What did we do wrong?’’ said Saad Abbas, a teacher who awoke later in a local hospital, being treated for wounds to the head and chest. ‘‘I was shopping for my family, and I felt a huge explosion. I fell to the ground, and the next thing I know I’m in the hospital.’’
You did nothing wrong.
Overall, the attacks Tuesday left nearly 50 people dead and more than 100 wounded. The variety of methods used is indicative of what Iraq still faces on a daily basis, more than six months after the US military departed and more than nine years after it invaded: a huge truck bomb, improvised explosives, and assassinations by gunfire....
Yeah, we really improved that place with the war-criminal invasion and occupation -- and we are still there.
--more--"
"Army to dismiss officer involved in ’08 friendly fire death" by Tom Jackman | Washington Post, July 04, 2012
WASHINGTON — The officer who shot and killed Private First Class David H. Sharrett II in a friendly-fire incident in Iraq in 2008 should be terminated from the Army and stripped of a combat badge he received for a battle he fled, leaving the mortally wounded Sharrett and four other soldiers behind, military officials have ruled.
The move was revealed on the eve of what would have been Sharrett’s 32d birthday, and it was the result of four years of investigating and agitating by his father, David Sharrett Sr., a retired English teacher in Fairfax County, Va.
At least four previous reviews by the Army resulted in little more than reprimands for the officer, Captain Timothy Hanson, now 33, who was promoted from lieutenant a year after the incident, and who had been allowed to transfer from active duty to a full-time Army Reserve job in his home state of Wisconsin.
Hanson claimed in an Army probe last year that he did not know he had shot Sharrett, even as the investigating general repeatedly showed him overhead video of the two soldiers within feet of each other. Hanson said he needed to leave the battlefield to assist two wounded men and brief his commanders. The wounded men told the general that Hanson did not assist them, and Hanson apparently did not brief commanders or return to his unit, which remained on its mission for two additional days.
Hanson said earlier this year that he did not want to discuss the incident, but that he was sorry and wanted to apologize to the Sharrett family. He did not respond to requests for comment in recent days.
The Army sent an e-mail to Sharrett Sr. last week saying Army Secretary John McHugh had referred the awarding of Hanson’s Combat Infantryman Badge to the Army’s Human Resources Command for review. The e-mail reported that the command’s Army Awards Board had recommended revoking Hanson’s badge and that McHugh had approved that move.
Army officials declined to give details on Hanson’s separation proceedings, though a dishonorable discharge would require a court-martial. They also would not discuss why the move is underway more than four years after the killing.
--more--"
R.I.P., son.
