Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Moqtada says there are 176 signatures for a no-confidence vote

Al Mada reports there are rumors that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has signed on to the no-confidence vote on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Alsumaria notes that today Talabani announced the formation of a committee to vet the authenticity of the signatures on the motion for a no-confidence vote.  Alsumaria reports sources tell them that there are 40 signatures from the Sadr bloc, 48 from the Kurdish bloc, 75 from Iraqiya, 3 from minority seats and 9 from the National Alliance. That would add up to 175.  Al Rafidayn reports Moqtada al-Sadr announced there were 176 signatures yesterday. Either Alsumaria missed one in their reporting or else one signed on after.  More interesting is Nouri's public boasting that the White House will save him -- and rumors that Vice President Joe Biden will make a visit to Iraq -- by "persuading" some signees to leave the list.  Nouri's not usually so publci about how dependent upon the White House he is.   Al Rafidayn notes that Nouri spent yesterday disputing the validity of signatures.  Al Mada adds that the National Alliance is being urged to propose an alternative to Nouri.

It's the ongoing political crisis.  And Nouri could end it at any time -- Moqtada al-Sadr has publicly stated so -- by merely implementing the Erbil Agreement.  But Nouri has refused to do so.

In March 2010, Iraq held parliamentary elections.  Nouri had a fit and demanded a recount.  Even after the recount his State of Law was still second place to Iraqiya (led by Ayad Allawi).  So like a big cry baby, he dug his feet in and refused to allow the process to go forward.  For eight months, Political Stalemate I, he refused to allow the Constitutional process to go forward and he was able to get away with it because he had the backing of the White House and of the Iranian government in Tehran.

Running interference for him, the US-brokered the Erbil Agreement.  It allowed loser Nouri to have a second term as prime minister.  The willful child had exhausted everyone's patience and the other blocs tried to be mature and put Iraq ahead of everything else.  So they agreed to let Nouri have a second term as prime minister provided he made concessions (such as following the Constitution's Article 140).  He signed off on it and the US vouched for the agreement, it was legal, it would be followed, let's all move forward.

Then when Nouri got his second term, he trashed the agreement, refused to abide by the contract and the same White House that brokered the contract now refused to call for it to be followed.


The White House should be ashamed of itself.  Not only did it spit on Iraqis and their bravery -- they went to the polls amidst violence and a security crackdown -- it also said:   "Democracy doesn't matter.  We claim we believe in it but if you don't vote the way we want, we will just override your vote."

Next time, before the US government decides to 'teach' someone else about democracy, they might ask themselves when they last practiced it?


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