The Common Ills: 300 lucky Iraqis will fly to Turkey for free

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

300 lucky Iraqis will fly to Turkey for free

Starting with violence, National Iraqi News Agency reports a Falluja attack claimed the life of 1 police officer and left one bystander injured, a Mosul home invasion left 3 women dead, a male real estate agent was shot dead in a Baghdad attack, 1 civilian was shot dead in Falluja, and a Mosul bombing claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi soldiers and left two more injured. That's 8 reported dead and 3 reported injured so far today. Al Bawaba reports that, through Monday, 190 people have been killed by violence. Through Monday, Iraq Body Count counts 210 July deaths from violence.

Hiwa Osman (Rudaw) weighs in on a topic that's getting less attention than violence but that's still getting attention: The decision to extend KRG President Massoud Barzani's current term by two years. Osman points out:

Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani’s visit to Baghdad, shortly after the political saga over the two-year extension of his presidency, carries a different symbolism from the visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to Erbil.
The message of Maliki’s visit was to show that Erbil matters to Baghdad. But the only message one can get out of Barzani’s visit, which was preceded by events in Kurdistan and reactions from various parties, is that Baghdad could be a better place for Barzani. In other words, could step into the Iraq presidency, which has been left virtually vacant since President Jalal Talabani’s stroke in December.
The Iraqi presidency is a very important position for the Kurds and for the rest of Iraq. Already, the vacuum left by Mam Jalal (Talabani) is strongly felt. It will be felt even more when the current presidential term ends in Baghdad.

NINA reports that Goran (Change), a minor third party in the KRG, is up in arms over the extension and that they will reject it. Third parties (plural) walked out during the extension vote last week and it had no impact. Their votes don't matter because they don't have enough of them. That doesn't mean they can't make a point. It just means that they're going to need to talk about something more than votes. NINA notes that Barzani is expected to "announce, today or tomorrow, his final position on the Law of the regional parliament to extend his mandate for an additional two years."

Meanwhile All Iraq News notes Barzani met with US Ambassador to Iraq Stephen Beecroft yesterday in Baghdad. NINA notes a statement issued by Barzani's office:

The statement quoted Beecroft expressing his country's readiness to support Barazani's visit to Baghdad and meeting with Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, and other Iraqi politicians, describing the move of being a good one and a suitable beginning to deal with the problems between Kurdistan Region and Baghdad, in addition to all problems that hinder Iraq's political process.
He added that though Iraq's problems are very complicated and not easy to solve, yet Barazani's initiative is positive and came in a suitable time to resume dialogue and discuss a number of ramified problems that are the source of Iraq's political crisis.
For his part, Barazan expressed his thanks to the US support and encouragement; he considered his recent visit to Baghdad of being an opportunity to put and end to problems.

Iraq's only good news of late is the football team scoring wins. All Iraq News notes "that the Business and Banks Council has allocated a financial award of IQD one billion for the Iraqi sports delegation participating in the World Cup U 20." Alsumaria adds that the Ministry of Transportation will be taking some members of the media to Turkey to watch the World Cup and that they will also be taking 300 Iraqi football fans to Turkey -- for free.

The following community sites -- plus Tavis Smiley, New Statesman, Jody Watley, Antiwar.com, Black Agenda Report, Susan's On the Edge, Adam Kokesh, Pacifica Evening News and the Guardian -- updated last night and this morning: