The Common Ills: They have a Speaker

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

They have a Speaker

Already today, NINA reports a handcuffed, blindfolded and bullet riddled corpse was discovered dumped in the street in al-Obeidi and alleged IS leader Abu Osama al-Qahtani was killed in Baiji by security forces. There's other violence but it won't dominate today's news cycle -- even the small section on Iraq.

Vatican Radio reports some good news:

Two nuns and three orphans under their care have been released in Iraq by kidnappers linked to ISIS, the Al Qaeda-inspired Sunni militant group also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Speaking to AsiaNews, Chaldean Patriarch Mar Louis Raphael I Sako expressed relief that there was “finally good news” in the country where ISIS, under the banner of a new Islamic “caliphate,” has captured large swathes of territory from the Shia led government in Baghdad.
Sister Atur and Sister Miskinta and the three young people went missing 28 June. The two Chaldean nuns belonged to the Congregation of the Daughters of the Immaculate Mary. Together with their consoeurs, the sisters help run a family home for orphans and abandoned children in Mosul, near the Chaldean Archbishopric.
Patriarch Sako told AsiaNews that people in the city “contributed to their liberation.”

That will not dominate the news cycle on Iraq either.

Instead, the cycle (at least through noon EST) will be dominated by today's Parliament session.

Yes, despite rumors that it might not be held, Parliament did meet today. Their third attempt to meet and begin forming a government.

All Iraq News notes they met and began the process of electing a Speaker of Parliament. NINA reports:

MP , Salim al-Jubori win candidate for Itihad al-Qowa al-Iraqiya headed by former Speaker Osama Nujaifi win the new post of Parliament the post of new Speaker after announcing the results of voting in the house of representatives after noon today.

As Alsumaria notes, State of Law tried to upset the process yet again. That is Nouri al-Maliki's coalition.

He wants a third term as prime minister.

Others don't feel he deserves it, to put it mildly. All Iraq News notes the Kurds noted their objection to a third term for Nouri again today. Nouri and other members of State of Law walked out on the proceedings.

The Parliament has to pick three posts. That's the first step in forming a government.

The three presidencies are Speaker of Parliament, the President and the Prime Minister-designate -- everyone's forgetting "designate" these days. That's step one. Picking a Speaker today doesn't finish step one.

Step two is after a prime minister-designate is named, that person then has 30 days to put together a full cabinet. If the Constitution is followed this time, failure to put together a full cabinet in 30 days would mean a new person was named prime minister-designate and given the chance. Success would mean the prime minister-designate moved from designate to prime minister.

The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com -- updated: