"Tense standoff with Maliki as Iraq nominates new leader" by Tim Arango and Alissa J. Rubin | New York Times August 12, 2014
Given their track record on Iraq (and everything else), this is crap.
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s president nominated a candidate Monday to replace Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The step broke a monthslong political deadlock, but it also seemed to take Iraq into uncharted territory, as Maliki gave no signal he was willing to relinquish power.
The Obama administration, which has been pushing Iraqi lawmakers to name a replacement for Maliki, added to the pressure on him by welcoming the nomination of the candidate, Haider al-Abadi, a member of Maliki’s Shi’ite Islamist Dawa Party. President Obama congratulated Abadi in a televised statement.
The nomination of Abadi came hours after a dramatic late-night television appearance in which a defiant Maliki challenged the Iraqi president, Fouad Massoum, and threatened legal action for not choosing him as the nominee.
As he spoke in the middle of the night, extra security forces, including special operations forces units loyal to Maliki, as well as tanks, locked down the fortified Green Zone of government buildings and took up positions around the city. Soldiers manned numerous checkpoints Monday. The atmosphere in the capital was tense.
There were no immediate signs Monday afternoon that Maliki had taken further steps to use military force to guarantee his survival. In another speech broadcast Monday night, he insisted Abadi’s nomination ‘‘runs against the constitutional procedures’’ and he accused the United States of siding with political forces ‘‘who have violated the constitution.’’
‘‘Today, we are facing a grave constitutional breach and we have appealed and we have the proof that we are the largest bloc,’’ Maliki said. ‘‘We assure all the Iraqi people and the political groups that there is no importance or value to this nomination.’’
He's right. He got screwed by the U.S. because he didn't let U.S. troops stay.
Maliki’s broadcasts, in which he appeared to be trying to intimidate Massoum by mentioning the army in the context of protecting the constitution, alarmed US officials and left Baghdad wondering if a coup was imminent.
Coup by who?
Under Iraq’s constitution, Abadi now has 30 days in which to form a government that offers meaningful positions to Iraq’s main minority factions, Sunnis and Kurds. During that time, Maliki will remain as a caretaker leader and as commander in chief of Iraq’s security forces.
The Dawa Party, to which both Maliki and Abadi belong, has its roots in the clandestine political opposition to the Sunni Ba’athist dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Like many of Iraq’s current leaders, Abadi lived in exile during part of the Saddam era. He has recently been first deputy speaker of Iraq’s Parliament.
The United States has been reluctant to help the Iraqi government militarily as long as it is led by Maliki, a Shi’ite Islamist who is seen by many as exacerbating sectarian and ethnic tensions, alienating some Sunnis and driving them to join the militants.
It's called cutting him loose, and when you consider that it is the US that funded, trained, and directs ISIS, well, what more do you need to know. Coup completed!
Even many who are opposed to Maliki’s coalition appeared ready to accept someone else from inside it.
“Really at this point, I think it’s anybody but Maliki,” said a Kurdish politician who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Whether Maliki will accept someone else from his bloc in the top spot remains unclear.
“The risk is, if he clings to power, he will control the country by force,” said another senior Iraqi politician. “This would be a military coup.”
Well, you know, HIS PARTY DID WIN the most votes ELECTIONS!
US Secretary of State John Kerry, in Australia, warned that Maliki must back the constitutional process and not attempt to circumvent it by using his powers as commander in chief to stay in office. He said that any extralegal effort to cling to power would bring a cutoff of international aid.
“There should be no use of force,” Kerry said in remarks to reporters in Sydney, where he was meeting with government leaders, “no introduction of troops or militias into this moment of democracy for Iraq.”
Unless it is US-sponsored ISIS or airstrikes to fight them.
“We’re all worried about a coup d’état,” said General Halgurd Hikmet, the chief spokesman for the Kurdish fighters in Iraq, known as peshmerga. “Maliki has to know that we have two major units of our troops guarding the Parliament and the Defense Ministry,” he said referring to the Kurdish division of the Iraqi army.
Already happened.
There are also forces loyal to the influential Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who oppose Maliki and are numerous in Baghdad. And there are the fighters of the Badr Corps, who are technically part of the Iraqi army but remain closely tied to Hadi al-Ameri, a powerful Shi’ite member of the Iraqi Parliament with links to Iran.
Yeah, get them in there, too, why not?
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"Maliki loses key support in his bid to keep power in Iraq" by Tim Arango | New York Times August 13, 2014
BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s defiant fight to retain power in Iraq appeared to collapse Tuesday, after his former backers in Iran, the military, and his own party all signaled that he could no longer expect their support.
They thought this would forestall further U.S. military action. It didn't.
He issued a statement saying that the security forces, which he had deployed around the capital on Monday in what some took to be preparations for a coup, should stay out of politics. And the conversation in Baghdad shifted to how he would leave office and on what terms.
The shift came after Maliki made several last-ditch efforts to shore up support, only to be confronted late Monday night with delegations of officials, all pleading with him to back down for the good of the country.
The next morning, an important Iraqi army general in Baghdad reached out to Iraq’s new president, Fuad Masum, and the man he nominated to be the next prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, and delivered the message that the military would not stand by Maliki, according to a senior Iraqi official.
US troops were sent to prop up, or so I was told!
Hours later, Maliki’s office released a statement that reflected both the growing opposition to him and the reality that the military probably would not back him anyway, if he tried to mount a coup: “Prime Minister Maliki urges commanders, officers and individuals to stay away from the political crisis and to commit to their military and security duties and tasks to protect the country, and not to intervene in this crisis. Leave this issue to the people, politicians and justice.”
Iran, a longtime supporter of Maliki, also lent its weight Tuesday to the constitutional process of replacing him with Abadi, adding pressure on Maliki to retreat from his threats. The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, congratulated Abadi during a meeting of Iranian ambassadors, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry also voiced its support for Abadi, saying in a statement, according to the Tasnim News Agency, “The Islamic Republic of Iran supports all the steps taken in line with completing the political process in Iraq.”
Some Iraqis said privately that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s influential Shi’ite cleric, also played an important role in orchestrating Maliki’s retreat, dispatching emissaries to Iran and successfully seeking the government’s cooperation in pressuring Maliki. Sistani was known to have been increasingly vexed over the political paralysis in Baghdad as militants with the Islamic State group were gaining ground.
Yeah, right, it was the Shi'ites and Iran that got rid of their ally.
I can not believe I'm sitting here reading such crap coming from the NYT 11 years after they lied us into war in Iraq.
The Obama administration, which has deployed US warplanes to help the Iraqi government battle a marauding force of Sunni militants in northern and western Iraq, has been pressing Maliki to move aside.
Yeah, US warplanes are helping him, right. They waited far too long. Maliki had been asking for help for a year. We all see what is going on here.
President Obama and his top aide congratulated Abadi on Monday and exhorted him to quickly form an inclusive government that would depart from Maliki’s polarizing policies, which have alienated many in the Sunni and Kurd minorities.
F*** this lying, distorted narrative.
Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the United States would consider expanding military and political support for Iraq if Abadi assumed the duties of prime minister and formed a more inclusive government.
With so many forces now arrayed against Maliki, the discussion Tuesday turned to what are believed to be his demands in return for stepping down: assurances that he will not be prosecuted and that his physical safety will be safeguarded.
According to senior lawmakers, discussions have centered on offering Maliki the position of vice president, a ceremonial post that would come with immunities and a security detail and would allow him to remain in palatial government housing inside the fortified Green Zone.
He took the deal!US does that a lot to friends it wants to move out for whatever reasons.
As an alternative, Iraqi officials have also begun quietly raising the question of whether Maliki should leave the country, and where he might go, according to a senior official.
He could find himself somewhere. US has done that before, too.
Abadi, a lawmaker from Maliki’s own Shi’ite Islamist Dawa Party, moved to mollify Maliki on Monday, urging him to join the process of government formation.
However, Abadi pointedly referred to Maliki as the “outgoing” prime minister, even though Maliki remains Iraq’s leader, and commander in chief, until Abadi forms a new government. He has 30 days to do so under the constitution.
In a statement, Abadi said that Maliki was “a brother and companion and he will remain so.”
“He is a central partner in politics in Iraq,” he continued.
Abadi also praised the security forces, which was seen as an effort by him to reassure military officers who may believe they owe their positions to Maliki and are worried about losing their jobs.
Yeah, you want to keep those guys on your side.
The quickly shifting messages — from a possible military coup one day, followed by late-night meetings and subtle public statements that carry deeper meanings the next — were particularly emblematic of Iraqi political gamesmanship.
“This is how it works in Iraq,” said Kenneth M. Pollack, a fellow at the Brookings Institution. The message from -Abadi to Maliki was, he said, “exactly what you’d expect: He’s reassuring Maliki, ‘I will not throw you to the wolves.’ ”
Why is that WMD liar that led the call for invasion being turned to for "expert advice?"
One Shi’ite leader, who spoke anonymously about the negotiations, said Maliki was “calm now and realizes that all his friends left him and joined the other camp.”
“If Maliki accepts backing Abadi,” he added, “and wants to be part of the team that forms the government, this will be his way to save face and keep his prestige as a top Shi’ite leader.”
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"Iraq’s al-Maliki gives up post to rival" by Sameer N. Yacoub and Qassim Abdul-Zahra | Associated Press August 15, 2014
BAGHDAD — Embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced late Thursday that he was relinquishing his post to his nominated replacement, ending a political deadlock that has plunged the country into uncertainty as it fights a Sunni militant insurgency.
Standing alongside senior members of his party, including rival Haider al-Abadi, Maliki said he was stepping aside in favor of his ‘‘brother,’’ in order to ‘‘facilitate the political process and government formation.’’
Maliki had been struggling for weeks to stay on for a third four-year term as prime minister amid an attempt by opponents to push him out, accusing him of monopolizing power and pursuing a fiercely pro-Shi’ite agenda that has alienated the Sunni minority. The United States, the UN and a broad array of political factions in Iraq had backed Abadi, saying only a new leader could unify a country under siege from Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group that have captured large swathes of Iraqi territory.
Maliki’s decision came as the crisis of the stranded Yazidi people appears to have ended, at least for the vast majority of those who had been at risk of death from exposure, hunger and thirst after they ran for their lives, only to find themselves trapped on a barren mountain.
Yeah, because it was ALL A HYPED UP FRAUD to BEGIN WITH like so many other things we have seen!
But it was enough to GET the US BACK into IRAQ so MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
Maliki said his decision to throw his support behind Abadi reflected a desire to ‘‘safeguard the high interests of the country,’’ adding that he would not be the cause of any bloodshed. ‘‘My position is your trust in me, and no position is higher than your trust,’’ he declared in a televised address.
Maliki’s refusal to give up his position after eight years in power had provoked a political crisis that escalated this week in Baghdad, where armed guards patrolled most major bridges, intersections and roadways.
The pressure intensified when his Shi’ite political alliance backed Abadi to replace him, and President Fouad Massoum nominated Abadi on Monday to form the next government. Maliki refused to step aside, threatening legal action against the president for what he said was a violation of the constitution.
But in a meeting of his party earlier Thursday, Maliki agreed to endorse Abadi as the next prime minister, according to two senior lawmakers from his State of Law parliamentary bloc — Hussein al-Maliki and Khalaf Abdul-Samad.
The lawmakers said Maliki also agreed to drop a suit challenging Abadi’s nomination.
The White House commended Maliki for backing Abadi and expressed hope that the power shift ‘‘can set Iraq on a new path and unite its people’’ against the threat from Islamic militants, national security adviser Susan Rice said in a statement.
Maliki had grown increasingly isolated as he was deserted not only by his Shi’ite allies but also top ally Iran, the United States and the UN-backed Abadi, who has 30 days to put together a Cabinet for parliament’s approval.
The UN Security Council urged Abadi to work swiftly to form ‘‘an inclusive government that represents all segments of the Iraqi population and that contributes to finding a viable and sustainable solution to the country’s current challenges.’’
The United States and other countries have been pushing for a more representative government that will ease anger among Sunnis, who felt marginalized by Maliki’s administration, helping fuel the dramatic sweep by the Islamic State extremist group that has seized large swathes of territory of northern and western Iraq since June.
You know what? It is time for me to move on from this shit propaganda and narrative. F*** the Jew York Times.
The extremist Islamic State group’s lightning advance across much of northern and western Iraq has driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes since June, and last week prompted the United States to launch aid operations and airstrikes as the militants threatened religious minorities and the largely autonomous Kurdish region.
PFFFT!
The UN on Wednesday declared the situation in Iraq a ‘‘level 3 emergency’’ — a development that will allow for additional assets to respond to the needs of the displaced, said UN special representative Nickolay Mladenov, pointing to the ‘‘scale and complexity of the current humanitarian catastrophe.’’
Just as it is ending (if it ever was).
The decision came after some 45,000 people, members of the Yazidi religious minority, were able to escape from a remote desert mountaintop where they had been encircled by Islamic State fighters, who view them as apostates and had vowed to kill any who did not convert to Islam.
The flood of Yazidi refugees across the bridge spanning the Iraqi-Syrian border had slowed to a drip by Thursday. Most of the tens of thousands who scrambled up Mount Sinjar to escape advancing militants have now climbed down. They are spilling across northern Iraq — sleeping in fields, cars and abandoned buildings — but at least they are safe for now.
Citing the improved conditions, President Obama called off plans for an evacuation of those left behind, saying that there was no need for such an operation.
‘‘The situation on the mountain has greatly improved, and Americans should be very proud of our efforts,’’ he said. ‘‘We helped vulnerable people reach safety, and we helped save many innocent lives.’’
‘‘We broke the ISIL siege of Mount Sinjar,’’ he added, using an acronym for the Islamic State militants whose capture of the northwestern town of Sinjar on Aug. 3 triggered the exodus of the Yazidis.
This is such, such garbage.
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Then they can get in there and vaccinate the kids.
"In Iraq, aid workers try to vaccinate 4 million amid war" Bloomberg News August 13, 2014
NEW YORK — Unicef and the World Health Organization have begun a four-day campaign to try to vaccinate 4 million children for polio in Iraq, a difficult task in a region ravaged by fighting.
More than 600,000 children have been displaced by conflict, as fighters from Islamic State, an insurgent Al Qaeda offshoot in Iraq and Syria, battle the government and forces from the semiautonomous Kurdish region in Iraq’s north.
‘‘We want to reach every child, regardless of where they are or under what control,’’ Juliette Touma, a UNICEF spokeswoman said by phone from Amman, Jordan. The vaccine has been distributed to several parts of Iraq.
The Iraqi vaccination push, which began Sunday, is part of the broader global polio response that was planned when a case was discovered in Syria last year after 15 years of absence, Touma said. UNICEF is a global aid agency focused on children’s welfare.
Islamic militants have undermined vaccination in other countries. In Nigeria, one of three countries where polio remains endemic, the Islamic group Boko Haram is suspected in the abduction of health workers and the killing of nine others last year.
Those missing girls that were sent home after the video shoot have disappeared.
It is too early to tell whether Islamic State will allow vaccinations by the aid agencies in cities it controls, Touma said. UNICEF and WHO are coordinating closely with the Iraqi government and the regional Kurdistan government, Touma said.
If they do, well, then they aren't really ISIS, are they?
Related: Inside the ISIS gift shop: Online jihadist spring/summer collection of T-shirts, hoodies and baseball caps shocks internet
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!
Good thing the NSA is collecting all the data!
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!
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"Unity remains elusive in Iraq; New leader faces huge challenge" by Sameer N. Yacouband Vivian Salama | Associated Press August 16, 2014
BAGHDAD — Nouri al-Maliki’s decision to step down as Iraq’s prime minister raised hopes Friday for a new government that can roll back an increasingly powerful Sunni insurgency and prevent the country from splitting apart.
But to do that, his successor has to unify Shi’ite, Sunni, and Kurdish factions that deeply distrust each other and have conflicting demands, all while dealing with a humanitarian crisis and the extremists’ continuing rampage in the north.
The man tapped to become the next prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, a veteran Shi’ite lawmaker, faces the immense challenge of trying to unite Iraqi politicians as he cobbles together a Cabinet in just over three weeks.
What? Change of US puppet meant nothing?
Abadi said Friday his government will be based on ‘‘efficiency and integrity, to salvage the country from security, political and economic problems’’ — but that is easier said than done in a country where forming a government often falls victim to roadblocks and infighting.
Sunni politicians are pressing for greater political influence, saying their disenfranchisement under Maliki’s Shi’ite-dominated government fueled support among the Sunni minority for the insurgency, led by the extremist Islamic State group. At the same time, the military needs significant bolstering after falling apart in the face of the militants’ advance and proving incapable of taking back lost territory.
‘‘Sunnis and Kurds were present in the Maliki government, but rarely included in the key decision-making process,’’ said retired Brigadier General Mark Kimmett, former military spokesman for coalition forces in Iraq. ‘‘One hopes that al-Abadi understands that inclusion has to be more than mere participation.’’
Many Iraqis expressed a sense of relief Friday that Maliki had relented after weeks of insisting on a third four-year term, fueling a political crisis that raised fears of a coup in a country with a long history of violent power grabs.
Especially foreign invasions that topple a government.
During Friday prayers in Baghdad’s Shi’ite Sadr City district, a man distributed sweets to Shi’ite worshippers, proclaiming, ‘‘Saddam has been brought down.’’
The comparison of Maliki to the late dictator Saddam Hussein showed the depth of opposition to the outgoing prime minister even among some of his fellow Shi’ites. Sadr City is dominated by followers of powerful Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, one of Maliki’s harshest critics. Six years ago, Maliki sent security forces to battle Sadr’s militias to establish his authority and project his image as a national leader.
The US had to go fight for him, then Iran rushed in with a peace deal. That's what happened there. They think we forgot?
‘‘We congratulate the Iraqi people for the victory that has been done this week. It is the week of congratulations,’’ said Ali Talaqani, a preacher loyal to Sadr, in his sermon to Sadr City worshippers.
Shi’ite factions turned against Maliki largely because they saw him as a domineering leader who monopolized power and allowed widespread corruption.
He was still with the U.S. then.
Critics say he staffed the military’s officer corps with incompetent loyalists, playing a major role in the army’s collapse in the face of the Islamic State militants over the past two months. Sunni factions also accused him of widespread corruption.
What good is an army to a leader if it is not loyal or opposing him?
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Time for me to get moving like Maliki.
