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Iraq

Sadr's movement pulls out of Iraq alliance

2007-09-16

Moved to Sunday for additional discussion. AoS. The political movement loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr quit Iraq's ruling Shi'ite Alliance on Saturday, leaving Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition high and dry in a precarious position in parliament. The move further weakens the ruling coalition, which even before the defection had failed to push through laws aimed at reconciling Iraq's warring majority Shi'ite and minority Sunni Arabs. Maliki's government now enjoys the support of only about half of Iraq's 275 lawmakers, although it could survive with the support of a handful of independent lawmakers. "The political committee has declared the withdrawal of the Sadr bloc from the (Shi'ite) alliance because there was no visible indication that the demands of Sadr's bloc were being met," the Sadr movement said in a statement released at a news conference in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf. The decision by Sadr's movement to quit the Shi'ite Alliance in parliament was not unexpected after the cleric pulled his six ministers from the cabinet in April. Maliki can still count on the backing of two other Shi'ite Islamist parties and the two main Kurdish parties in parliament, and so far no party has launched any push for a no-confidence vote in his government. Sadr was instrumental in getting Maliki, a fellow Shi'ite, appointed prime minister in May last year. His political bloc has raised a host of grievances in the past, including Maliki's refusal to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Sadr, a lunatic Persian sock puppet fiery nationalist whose stronghold in the capital is Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City, led his Mehdi Army militia in two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004. Maliki's government has been paralyzed by infighting. Besides the withdrawal of ministers loyal to Sadr, six cabinet members from the main Sunni Arab bloc have also quit. Speaking in parliament on Monday, Maliki acknowledged that the term "national unity government", used to describe his cabinet had lost its meaning. Maliki acknowledged that the term "national unity government", used to describe his cabinet had lost its meaning. Hinting at a long promised overhaul of his cabinet, he said it was time for a "partnership government", but gave no details. The next day Sadr's movement said it was considering withdrawing from the alliance, accusing it of failing to provide security and said political progress had been inadequate. Criticism of Maliki's government also came from Washington. President George W. Bush, speaking on Thursday, said it had made limited political progress despite the breathing space offered by a "surge" of U.S. troops and better security. In a report ordered by Congress, the White House said on Friday that Iraq's leaders had made satisfactory progress on just nine out of 18 political and security benchmarks. The political benchmarks, which include a crucial revenue-sharing oil law, are designed to build on the improved security and promote national reconciliation. Iraqi lawmakers were not impressed. "The Americans always try to pretend the responsibility for cleaning up this mess isn't theirs and tend to shift blame onto Iraq, Iran and Syria for everything that goes wrong," said veteran Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman.

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Iraq

Iraq Making Plans for Quick U.S. Pullout

2007-05-22

Iraq's military is drawing up plans to cope with any quick U.S. military pullout, the defense minister said Monday, as a senior American official warned that the Bush administration may reconsider its support if Iraqi leaders don't make major reforms by fall. The U.S. official did not say what actions could be taken by the White House, but his comments reflected the administration's need to show results in Iraq—as an answer to pressure by the Democrats in Congress seeking to set timetables on the U.S. military presence. With violence raging, pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki's government to demonstrate progress on key reforms or risk losing American support for the unpopular war. On Monday, Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi told reporters Iraq's military was drawing up plans in case U.S.-led forces left the country quickly. "The army plans on the basis of a worst case scenario so as not to allow any security vacuum," al-Obeidi said. "There are meetings with political leaders on how we can deal with a sudden pullout." It was unclear whether al-Obeidi's comment referred to routine contingency planning or reflected a feeling among Iraqi leaders that the days of U.S. support may be numbered even though President Bush blocked an effort by Congress to set a withdrawal timetable. Senior Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman confirmed that U.S. pressure was mounting, especially on the oil bill, which was endorsed by the Iraqi Cabinet three months ago but has yet to come to the floor of parliament. Kurdish legislators oppose the formula for distributing oil revenues among the Iraqi communities, arguing for a greater say in how the money is disbursed. Major Shiite and Kurdish parties oppose several proposed changes in the constitution, as well as Sunni Arab demands for a loosening of rules banning former Saddam Hussein supporters from government jobs.

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Iraq

Suicide truck bomber strikes Kurdish city of Irbil, killing 19 people

2007-05-09

A suicide truck bomb ripped through the Interior Ministry in the relatively peaceful Kurdish city of Irbil on Wednesday morning, killing at least 19 people and wounding 80, officials said. Kurdish officials blamed al-Qaida linked insurgents for the devastating attack. The attack came just as U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Baghdad for an unannounced visit that was to include meetings with top Iraqi government officials, leaders of influential Iraqi factions and the senior U.S. military commander here. Cheney's visit was aimed at encouraging rival Iraqi factions to work together to overcome their divisions to work together to end the conflict. The explosion in Irbil, 350 kilometers (217 miles) north of Baghdad, underscored how even relatively safe areas of the country were not immune from the violence. Irbil, the capital of the Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, had been spared much of the violence wracking the rest of Iraq. The Interior Ministry building was badly damaged. Kurdish television showed rubble laying in piles and twisted metal beams. Rescue workers reached into the wreckage to pull out one of the victims of the blast. Windows were blown out down the street and wreckage was scattered nearly 100 meters (yards) away. The nearby security headquarters was also damaged. Zariyan Othman, the Kurdish health minister, said 19 people were killed and 80 were wounded, including five who were in serious condition. Hamza Ahmed, a spokesman for the Irbil governor's office, said the dead and wounded included police and civilians. Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman blamed the attack on Ansar al-Sunnah, a Sunni Arab insurgent group, and Ansar al-Islam, a mostly Kurdish militant group with ties to al-Qaida in Iraq. Ansar al-Islam has been blamed for a number of attacks, including attempts to assassinate Kurdish officials. Othman said authorities learned that insurgents were planning a large attack a week ago when police arrested a militant cell in the town of Sulaimaniyah. "During questioning they confessed that were getting training lessons in a neighboring country and that was Iran," he said. It's past time to let the Kurds and the Shiia fix the Sunni 'insurection' problem. It won't be pretty, but it will bring a final resolution. All the USA has to do is guarantee Iraq's borders, so the Kurds in particular don't have to watch their backs while they are clearing the Sunnis into the Western desert. And I'll note, a Sunni population geographically contained essentially fixes the Iraq problem.

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Iraq

Iraq PM Lets Shiites Consider Replacement

2006-04-20

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, under intense pressure to give up plans for a second term, agreed Thursday to let Shiite lawmakers reconsider his nomination, a step that could mark a breakthrough in the months-long effort to form a new government. Key to al-Jaafari's change of heart was pressure from U.N. envoy Ashraf Qazi and his meetings Wednesday with the most powerful Shiite cleric in the country, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical cleric who has backed al-Jaafari, said Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman. "There was a signal from Najaf," Othman said, referring to al-Sistani's office in the Shiite holy city. "Qazi's meetings with (al-Sistani) and al-Sadr were the chief reason that untied the knot." Shiite legislators planned to meet Saturday to decide whether to replace al-Jaafari, who faced fierce opposition from Iraq's Kurdish and Sunni Arab parties. Rest at link.

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Iraq

Iraqi parliament meeting postponed

2006-04-18

Efforts to form a unity government suffered a new setback Sunday as Iraqi leaders postponed a parliament session after failing to agree on a prime minister. Bombs targeted Shiites near a mosque and on a bus as attacks nationwide killed at least 35 people. Four more Marines were reported killed in fighting west of Baghdad as the U.S. death toll for this month rose to 47 — compared with 31 for all of March. U.S. officials believe the best way to stem the violence is for the Iraqis to establish a government comprising Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, paving the way for the United States to start withdrawing its 133,000 troops. But progress has stalled over Sunni and Kurdish opposition to the Shiite choice of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to head the new government. With al-Jaafari refusing to step aside, acting speaker Adnan Pachachi called a parliament session for Monday, hoping the full legislature could agree on a new leadership after the politicians failed. On the eve of the session, Pachachi announced a delay of "a few days" to give the religiously and ethnically based parties more time to agree on the new prime minister, president and five other top posts that require parliamentary approval. Before the announcement, Shiite official Hussain al-Shahristani told Sunni and Kurdish leaders that his bloc, which controls 130 of the 275 parliament seats, would decide what to do about al-Jaafari "within the coming two days," Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said. Majority Shiites have been giving similar assurances for the past two weeks, and it was unclear how soon the issue could be settled. # Four Marines — three from Regimental Combat Team Five and one from the 2/28 Brigade Combat Team — died Saturday in Anbar province, the U.S. command said Sunday. Their deaths raised to at least 2,376 the number of U.S. military members who have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. # At least 10 people died in a car bombing near a Shiite mosque in an outdoor market in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad, police said. Three others were killed when a bomb exploded on a minibus in a Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, police said. # Earlier Sunday, six people were killed when U.S. troops stormed a house looking for an al Qaeda suspect in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Six people, including the suspect, were arrested. The military didn't identify the suspect but said he worked with foreign fighters to plan bombings. # In Najaf, Brig. Gen. Abbas Maadal said 29 policemen remain unaccounted for three days after their convoy was ambushed near the U.S. base at Taji just north of Baghdad. Nine police were killed in the attack Thursday night. Maadal said officials were trying to determine if the missing police were dead, captured or in hiding. Voters chose the new parliament on Dec. 15, but the legislature met briefly only once last month. The bitter fight over al-Jaafari has heightened friction among the rival parties, raising the spectre of deadlock over other top jobs. Some Shiite officials say that if they must change their nominee for prime minister, other parties may not win approval of their first choices for major posts either. CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier reports that it is as if Shiite politicians have decided that if they do not get their top choice for the prime minister position, other groups will not get their top choices for other government positions (video). The Shiite objections to Sunni and Kurd candidates has created a new deadlock. For example, the Shiites rejected the Sunni nominee for parliament speaker, Tariq al-Hashimi. Disputes also emerged Sunday over the two deputy speakers and two vice presidents — jobs expected to go to Sunnis and Kurds. "This delay will affect everything," Sunni lawmaker Naseer al-Ani said. "The Shiites did not tell us the reasons behind rejecting al-Hashimi like we did about al-Jaafari. We're still waiting to hear the reasons." Pressure has been mounting on the Shiites to replace al-Jaafari, whom critics accuse of failing to curb sectarian tension that has soared since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, which triggered a wave of reprisal attacks against Sunnis. Shiite politicians not affiliated with major parties have proposed that al-Jaafari step aside in favor of another candidate from his Dawa party. In return, the biggest Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, would not push Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi for the post. However, Dawa leaders complained of interference by outsiders and insisted they should decide al-Jaafari's fate, according to several Shiite officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were at a sensitive stage. In an interview Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition," Iraq's ambassador to the U.S., Samir Sumaidaie, said Shiite lawmaker Ali al-Adeeb had emerged as a possible prime minister candidate. Al-Adeeb is a member of al-Jaafari's party but spent many years in Shiite-dominated Iran — which could cause problems with the Sunnis. Al-Jaafari won the nomination in a vote last February by Shiite lawmakers due to strong support from radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The mercurial young cleric, who heads the dreaded Mahdi Army militia, has vowed to stand behind the incumbent. With little progress on the political front, Iraq's slide toward chaos continued.

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Iraq

8 killed by Baghdad hard boyz

2006-03-30

For the third time in as many days, gunmen stormed a Baghdad business Wednesday, this time lining 14 employees against the wall and shooting them all. Eight were killed, and at least 26 others were reported dead in violence elsewhere. The attack on the al-Ibtikar electronics trading company began when gunmen drove up in five black BMWs shortly after 8 a.m., said police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq. The attackers set a fire in the office but took no money. Survivors told police some of the attackers wore police uniforms and said they were intelligence agents of the Interior Ministry, which oversees police. Survivors said the gunmen asked for the company manager, who wasn't there, and then opened fire on the 14 workers. Six were wounded but survived. The motive for the attack, the second on a firm in the upscale Mansour neighborhood this week, was unclear. A key lawmaker blamed militants. "These are concentrated efforts to paralyze the country. They are either from al Qaeda or the remnants of Saddam's regime. They want to tell the people that there is no government," said Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman. Politicians working to form a new Iraqi government, meanwhile, canceled their multiparty talks for the day, saying they needed time to consult with their political blocs over the critical issue of what powers the next prime minister would have over security issues. It was the second time this week political leaders shunned a session meant to overcome a stalemate that is in its sixth week. The Kurdish, Sunni Arab and secular blocs in the parliament oppose the main Shiite bloc's push for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to remain prime minister. Shiite politicians said that U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has told the leader of the Shiite bloc that President Bush doesn't want Jaafari as prime minister. Jaafari on Wednesday asserted his right to stay in office and warned the Americans against undue interference in Iraq's political process. "Some American figures have made statements that interfere with the results of the democratic process," he said.

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