Violence continues today. National Iraqi News Agency reports Mohammed al-Rawi (Director of the Statutes Civil Dept in al-Qaim) was shot dead in Anbar Province. All Iraq News reports an armed clash in Mosul that left 1 police officer and 3 rebels deadand, in southern Mosul, police shot dead 1 rebel. Al Jazeera notes a bombing targeting the al-Sultan mosque in Mahaweel. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports 3 people were killed in the bombing and seven more injured.
Meanwhile CounterPunch remains a sad enterprise when it comes to Iraq. Their latest piece about 'problems' in Iraq mentions Nouri only briefly. Vicken Cheterian is the author of record:
What makes it hard to find a solution is the personal animosity between the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, and the KRG president, Masoud Barzani. Barzani played a key role in mobilising the Iraqi opposition in an attempt to oust Al-Maliki, which failed and led to personal clashes. In Erbil, officials openly criticise the prime minister. Fallah Mustafa, the KRG foreign minister, claims that “Al-Maliki was not elected directly by the Iraqi people.” Fouad Hussein, the KRG chief of staff and close to Barzani, goes further: “The office of prime minister Al-Maliki is a factory for producing problems.”
Does that make it hard, Vicken?
Really?
First off, Fouad Hussein is correct. That's not even a controversial or questionable quote.
The Parliament elects the prime minister (or is supposed to). So, no, the people don't elect Nouri. In England, the people didn't elect David Cameron, or Tony Blair, or Gordon Brown or . . .
In some countries, including the US, people do go to the polls to vote for their national leaders.
But Houssein's remarks -- and there are others if Vicken weren't so lazy -- usually go to the fact that the Constitution wasn't followed.
Nouri's State of Law came in second to Iraiqya in the 2010 elections. That meant Iraqiya was supposed to form the government. For eight months after the elections, Nouri refused to step down. He didn't have to, he had the US government's support. The US government brokered The Erbil Agreement which gave Nouri a second term as prime minister.
The US has been bribing and promising the political blocs all along. Nouri is the White House's choice. That's become obvious to everyone involved in Iraq.
It was also obvious to many in the press leading to humiliating moments for Barack like in when the Guardian's editorial board noted in August, "These elections were hailed prematurely by Mr Obama as a success, but everything that has happened since has surely doused that optimism in a cold shower of reality."
While he was taking his licks on the international stage, he had US officials telling the leaders of the Iraqi political blocs, as the US brokered a contract known as The Eribl Agreement, "This has lasted eight months already, Nouri could hold out for another eight months. Do the right thing here, be the bigger person, put Iraq first. It really doesn't matter who has 'prime minister.' It's going to have to be a power-sharing government because State of Law didn't win. So just give him the post of prime minister and we'll write up in this contract and we'll put what you want in the contract to and it will be a legally binding contract with the full backing of the US government."
Before it was signed, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Australia November 8, 2010 and stated:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: Probably over the course of the last eight months, we've had many indications that they were close to an agreement, they were on the brink of government formation, they had worked out their power-sharing arrangements only not to see that come to fruition. But it is fair to say that we have been consistently urging the Iraqis to have an inclusive government that reflects the interests and needs of the various segments of the population, the there had to be legitimate power-sharing amongst different groups and individuals. And that is what we hope at the end of this process [. . .] will be the result of all of their negotiation.
That same day, Richard Spencer (Telegraph of London) reported Nouri's spokesperson "claimed an agreement has been struck for him to remain in office." November 9th talks went on:
Today, meetings continued. Jomana Karadsheh (CNN) reminds, "Leading up to Monday's meeting, officials had said they were close to completing an agreement, but remarks made by a number of the leaders indicated that they have yet to address key sticking points that remain unresolved ahead of this week's parliament session." And Raheem Salman and Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) point out, "If they fail to strike a deal, the stalemate could drag on for months." Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reports the US is pressuring Kurds to step aside regarding the presidency so that someone from Iraqiya can be president -- Fadel names US Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain (in person in Baghdad) and US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden -- and that Nouri "is trying to garner the backing he needs [from Iraqi politicians] to keep his post without ceding any of his power. Maliki emerged as the likeliest candidate for the top job in the new government when he secured the support of the Sadrists, a populist Shiite political movement opposed to the U.S. presence here." BBC News reports that Allawi and Tareq al-Hashemi did not show for today's meet up (al-Hashemi is also a member of Iraqiya as well as Iraq's Sunni Vice President) and that "[a]nother issue still to be resolved is whether parliament will meet on Thursday as previously announced." Sammy Ketz (AFP) reports that Iraq's Shi'ite Vice President, Adel Abdel Mehdi, walked out of today's meeting. Alsumaria TV reports that MP Saifya Al Suhail spoke out about the absence of women present in the deal making and that she stated, "A democratic Iraq cannot be built without women contribution to the political decision." Mazin Yahya (AP) adds, "Producing a deal by Thursday's scheduled parliamentary session will be difficult and while legislators have watched other deadlines come and go, there is a marked sense of urgency about meeting this court-appointed deadline to hold the session." So, reports indicate, day two was actually less productive than day one since all players were not present and no big announcement was made. When this was originally planned, it was thought it would be three days with main principles participating for the first two days only -- during which time, it was promoted, all the big points would be ironed out. That does not appear to have happened. Especially when Alsumaria TV is reporting that Iraqiya stated today "that the possibility of withdrawing is still open".
I believe Leila Fadel (Washington Post) was the first to report what the rumors said the make up of the government would be: "Under the deal reached Wednesday, the parliament is expected to appoint a speaker from Iraqiya, then name the current Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani, as president. He, in turn, will name Maliki as prime minister. Maliki will then have to put together a cabinet that a simple majority in Iraq's parliament will have to approve." November 11, 2010, Parliament met:
Martin Chulov (Guardian) reports
one hiccup in the process today involved Ayad Allawi who US President
Barack Obama phoned asking/pleading that he accept the deal because "his
rejection of post would be a vote of no confidence". Ben Lando, Sam Dagher and Margaret Coker (Wall St. Journal) confirm
the phone call via two sources and state Allawi will take the post --
newly created -- of chair of the National Council On Higher Policy: "Mr.
Obama, in his phone call to Mr. Allawi on Thursday, promised to throw
U.S. weight behind the process and guarantee that the council would
retain meaningful and legal power, according to the two officials with
knowledge of the phone call." So all is well and good and . . .
Ooops!!!! Lando, Dagher and Coker file an update, Iraqiya wasn't happy and walked out of the session. Prashant Rao (AFP) reports
that "a dispute erupted in the Council of Representatives chamber when
the mostly Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc argued that the agreement they had
signed on to was not being honoured, prompting the bloc's MPs to storm
out. [. . .] Specifically, Iraqiya had called for three of their
lawmakers, barred for their alleged ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath
party, to be reinstated before voting for a president."
Barack was deeply involved. Don't pretend otherwise now. And don't pretend that Sunnis are frustrated by "the empowerment of Iraq's Shi'ite majority through the ballot box." That is an utter lie. And it does not one damn thing to explain what's happening on the ground today.
Pretty much every word Vicken writes is a lie:
What makes it hard to find a solution is the personal animosity between the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, and the KRG president, Masoud Barzani. Barzani played a key role in mobilising the Iraqi opposition in an attempt to oust Al-Maliki, which failed and led to personal clashes.
Animosity? Barzani was also the one who allowed Nouri to become prime minister. He went along with the US government. Why is their animosity? Because The Erbil Agreement wasn't implemented. The other political leaders kept their word, Nouri failed to honor the concessions he made to get the second term.
Led to personal clashes? Between whom? There were personal clashes before the attempt to oust Nouri. That follows the targeting of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi. Another point Vicken can't get right.
I have no idea why CounterPunch has whored themselves for Nouri al-Maliki all these years but it gets more disgusting every day. The kindest assumption is that Jeffery St. Claire is trying to have coverage of Iraq so he grabbed this Soros-funded 'reporter' and ran with it.
But after all these years and Patrick Cockburn repeatedly 'missing' the secret prisons Nouri runs and so much more it really does appear that CounterPunch is not reporting but advocating on behalf of Nouri. As we've noted before, Sunnis in the region (Iraq and the surrounding areas) are very clear that Patrick Cockburn writes with extreme prejudice against Sunnis. They didn't form that opinion from one article or one years worth of articles. (CounterPunch was created by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair. Alexander has passed away. Patrick and Alexander were brothers. Laura Flanders is their nice. Do we need to go all the way to Olivia Wilde or is that enough on the Cockburn family?)
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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