Saturday, September 15, 2018

Iraq's new Speaker of Parliament Mohammed al-Halbousi

Pakistan's THE NEWS reports, "Iraq´s parliament elected Sunni lawmaker Mohammed al-Halbousi as speaker on Saturday, marking an important step towards establishing a new government four months after an inconclusive national election."

Iraq parliament elects pro-Iran list candidate as speaker




He was backed both by the outgoing prime minister Hayder al-Abadi and by Hadi al-Ameri whose milita bloc came in second in the May 12th elections and he ran as part of Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc (Moqtada's bloc came in first in the elections).  al-Halbousi has been a member of Parliament since the 2014 elections. Following serving in Parliament, al-Halbousi became governor of Anbar Province.   Pakistan's THE NATION notes, "Halbusi ran against three other candidates, including Vice President Osama al-Nujaifi and former Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi."   ALJAZEERA adds:

Mohammed al-Halbousi, a Sunni politician and the former governor of Anbar province, won 169 votes in a secret ballot conducted at Saturday's session of the 329-seat assembly, according to reports.
Aged 37, he will be the youngest speaker of parliament in Iraq's history. 



Some are hailing this as a huge step foward and that may be because it was supposed to happen earlier this month.  Raya Jalabi and Ahmed Rasheed  (REUTERS) note, "Parliament had been due to elect a speaker and two deputies during its first meeting on Sept. 3, but failed to do so as lawmakers were unable to determine which competing bloc had the most seats.  The move is not that big.  Today was supposed to also have elected the deputy speaker -- that did not happen and has been postponed until Sunday.  More to the point, there's still no president and still no prime minister-designate.  Elections were four months ago.   Iran's FINANCIAL TRIBUNE explains, "Halbousi’s election marks the start of a 90-day process outlined in the constitution, designed to eventually lead to a new government.  Lawmakers must next elect a new president and task the leader of the largest bloc to form a government as prime minister. But a dominant bloc has yet to emerge, against a backdrop of shifting political alliances."


Some Tweets from Margaret Kimberley



  1.   Retweeted
    Senator Warner has obviously not read today's superseding indictment, which demonstrates the exact opposite: that Manafort pursued a pro-Western, anti-Russia agenda in Ukraine:
  2.   Retweeted
    For those asking, if Manafort was pro-West, then why did his client Yanukovych ultimately seek a deal w/ Russia? When EU demanded "harsh and politically unpopular" austerity & Russia didn't, Y "unsurprisingly" went w/ Russia, despite Manafort's efforts:
  3.   Retweeted
    In a bid to extract some collusion fodder out of this Manafort plea that is & will be devoid of collusion, Russiagaters (including on his show last night) are reviving the debunked and transparently ridiculous story about the Ukraine platform amendment at RNC 2016:
  4.   Retweeted
    Victoire Ingabire and Kizito Mihigo walk free.
  5.   Retweeted
  6.   Retweeted
    If Deray has never claimed radicalism, defends charters, and promotes capitalism has he really fooled anyone?
  7. Trump administration to send U.S. cellphones a test alert on Thursday And you can't opt out.
  8.   Retweeted
    Censored Documentary Exposes Israel’s Attack on Black Lives Matter by Max Blumenthal outlines measures the Israel lobby takes to spy on Americans, & combat the surge in US opposition, especially black opposition to the apartheid settler state of Israel.
  9.   Retweeted
    Two Thirds of "Progressive" Democratic Congressional Candidates Are Silent on Foreign Policy. Why? Don't They Trust Democratic Voters?
  10.   Retweeted
    Afro-Colombians Credit UN Durban Declaration in Fight for Land Rights In principle, the government of Colombia recognized Black people’s right to collective ownership of land back in 1993, but these rights have not been fully achieved, in practice.
  11.   Retweeted
    This piece was fire! *Raised fist* Power to the People!
  12.   Retweeted
    Congratulations ! The revolutionary space opened in NYC today— if you haven’t heard of them, make sure to visit them at to learn more about their upcoming events and courses. Forward ever.
  13.   Retweeted
    The Salisbury suspects are obviously hiding something (beyond the thing they protest too obviously) and they are obviously not GRU professionals. What they are hiding, one suspects, is not what they are accused of. [Thread]
  14.   Retweeted
    Replying to 
    Here’s the point Simon: if they are indeed top GRU agents sent on a hit job but doing it all like Mr Bean then we can’t simultaneously say that Russia is a ‘sinister threat’. See what I mean? They can be laughable or a very serious threat- but not both.
  15.   Retweeted
    Such a pity all these smug inside the tent media types mocking the two Russian suspects & saying how their story couldn’t possibly be true didn’t do the same about the UK govt ´Iraq has WMDs so we’ve got invade’ claims in 2003. They know the best line to take for their careers.
  16.   Retweeted
    This is a complete betrayal of the American people, those we lost on 9/11, my brothers and sisters in uniform we’ve lost since, and their families. Every Member of Congress must condemn the President for protecting al-Qaeda.
  17.   Retweeted
    US diplomats involved in trafficking of human blood and pathogens for secret military program via
  18.   Retweeted
    We're launching our campaign on October 1, the 10th anniversary of AFRICOM. Find out more 👇🏿 
  19.   Retweeted
    If you're on the Left, your money would be better spent supporting , and the .
  20.   Retweeted
    My article on Lulu Anderson is now online. Lulu was a Black civil rights hero in Edmonton who fought against segregation in a local theatre. Her original court case was destroyed but I was able to piece together some parts of her life for
  21.   Retweeted
    The rule book in the world of espionage says that once you release someone from prison as part of an exchange deal, then you do not try to harm that person afterwards. Otherwise, that would jeopardise future swaps. So why would Russia tear the rule book up???
  22.   Retweeted
    Lynch Mob Mentality - I was caught in a twitterstorm of hatred yesterday, much of it led by mainstream media journalists like David Aaronovitch and Dan Hodges, for daring to suggest that the basic elements of Boshirov and Petrov's story do in fact stack
  23. I didn’t vote in the New York Democratic primaries. That’s because I’m registered as a Green.
  24. I wonder if there was any marijuana in apartment before the cops arrived? They plant drugs or weapons on victims all the time.
  25.   Retweeted
    Replying to 
    But freedom, gassed his own people, humanitarian, strategic interests, keeping us safe, heroes!