Sadrist Condemns 'Eternal Slavery' to US;
1 US Troop Killed, 5 Wounded;
Bombings in Mosul
An American soldier was killed and five were wounded by roadside bombs on Friday in Diyala Province northeast of Baghdad.
Congress passed a $161 bn. budget for the Iraq War, with a bit for Afghanistan in it, but failed to get language about a timetable for troop withdrawal included. If Americans dislike this outcome, they will have to elect more senators (especially senators) and congressional representatives who want out of Iraq, of both parties, this fall. The gesture of November 2006 just was not strong enough, given the consensual rules of the Senate (where you really need 60 to accomplish anything) and the Hawks' continued control of the White House. Oh, that is another thing they could change in November, if they don't like throwing good money after bad.
Iraqi troops undertook a wave of arrests in Amarah on Friday, putting behind bars the mayor of the city, several members of the provincial council of Maysan, and 20 policemen, among dozens of others the government said were implicated in militia-led gangsterism in the city. Sadrists protested that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was attempting to weaken their part ahead of provincial elections. Maysan is the only province in Iraq run by the Sadr Movement, and al-Maliki's main backer, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, would like to take it in the next election.
Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that a compromise has been reached on the provincial elections law in parliament, which should be voted on shortly. Kirkuk will not be included in the provinces voting, until after a referendum is held there on whether it should accede to the Kurdistan Regional Government. The KRG provinces, which have now been melded into a single confederacy, also will not vote in the fall. The Sadr Movement opposes this plan, insisting that Kirkuk take part. It also opposes a quota whereby 25% of seats on the provincial assemblies go to women. The United Iraqi Alliance and the Iraqi List insist on the quota for women. The Sadrists say they fear that the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq is attempting to delay provincial elections until early 2010 and have them coincide with the next parliamentary elections at the federal level. ISCI controls most of the Shiite provinces and the Sadrists say it is afraid it will lose them because it has not performed well.
Sadrist cleric As'ad al-Nasiri preached the sermon at the Kufa Mosque on Friday, condemning a proposed Status of Forces Agreement between Iraq and the US as a form of "eternal slavery."
Al3marh.net reports that al-Nasiri criticized what he called secret provisions of the proposed SOFA. He said that it called for American military bases to remain in Iraq. He said that no self-respecting Iraqi would stand for such a notion. 
Moreover, immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts was being extended from US troops even to big US corporations. which he condemned as an affront to Iraqi sovereignty.
He also found unacceptable any plan for the US to retain the ability to arrest Iraqis at will.
The same site reports in Arabic on the sermon of Sheikh Abdul Mahdi al-Karbala'i on Friday at the Mosque of al-Husayn in Karbala. He is the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
Al-Karbala'i said that the Shiite religious leadership would endorse no party list or individual candidate in the upcoming provincial elections, but rather would remain equidistant from all.
He also said that any Status of Forces Agreement between Iraq and the US must meet the following conditions:
McClatchy reports political violence on Friday:
'Nineveh
A roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol in al-Ghabat area Friday afternoon wounding eleven servicemen.
A parked car bomb targeted a police patrol in al-Wahda neighbourhood, downtown Mosul, wounding six policemen. . .
One unidentified body was found in Baghdad by Iraqi Police in Shaab.
A parked car exploded in Kindi Street, Harthiyah, central Baghdad at 9 p.m. Friday killing three civilians, injuring seven.
Diyala
Gunmen blew up two houses in Ashti neighbourhood, al-Saadiyah district , to the northeast of Baquba Thursday evening. Both houses were empty when they were blown up by remote control, but a civilian passer by was in the vicinity and was injured by the blast. '
Labels: Iraq
posted by Juan Cole @ 6/20/2008 07:00:00 PM
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Maliki now heads the Iraqi negotiation team in the SOFA and long-term cooperation deal. This dramatic move, which happened days ago but has not been reported in the West, basically ends the Kurdish role.
Foriegn Minister Zibari, a Kurd who is desperate for the US to stay, has been filling the airwaves lately, but he is outside the loop. Normally, a FM represents the views of the government, but Zibari is doing the opposite. His meeting with Cheney, and the media blitz, is a futile attempt to push the deals through but the Americans can't help him. They want what he wants, and he should in fact be in their team being an anti-Iraq Kurd, so it is not a matter of lobbying.
Maliki can still lose his job if the Kurds end their support for him in a vote of no-confidence, but he is better off if he is removed that way rather than suffer a humiliating wash-out in elections. Moreover, he would most likely be asked to stay on for a while as a care-taker PM because of the elections in Iraq and the US. Then he would have the freedom to sack ministers, particularly Zibari!
It appears that Sistani is pretty much willing to allow Maliki et al. to decide on what the four "conditions" mean --- they are so vague, that all that needs to be done is put 'em in a preamble.
The notion of that the parliment under occupation could possibly make an independent review and come up with a decision favoring the Iraqi people is just not possible. Given, that the two major factions are pro-US, and are essentially American puppets.
The only scenario that would be legitimate is to put this to a referendum, and let the Iraqi people decide. There is no way such an "agreement" would get approval. But furthermore, it would make things very clear that an overwhelming majority of Iraqis want the Americans out now.
Unfortunately, the people of Iraq are being betrayed left and right by the puppet government, and by a religious leadership that appears to be either politically naive, or fearful of taking a clear stand.
Only the Sadr religious leadership has the right ideas, and they do represent a good majority of Iraqis, but the smaller minority have the firepower of the Americans behind them...
In al-Sabah, Maliki's mouthpiece, in Arabic: Bush and Maliki discussed a framework for troop presence instead of strategic deals.
We can say that SOFA is officially dead.
Every time congress votes more no-strings money for Iraq, you tell us we need 60 Democratic senators to accomplish anything. But it is just a fact that if 50 Democrats refused to vote for no-strings money, there would be no money. It doesn't take 60 votes to quash a funding biil.
I trust you on matters in the Middle East I would otherwise know little about, so it is disturbing to see you persistently mischaracterize a simple fact I do know something about. Please set the record straight and restore your credibility.
Prof. Cole is correct when he says we need to elect more Senators and Representatives that oppose the war. The key point to realize is that if the Democrats just choose a candidate for you, that's probably not the right vote.
How many primary fights have we seen with anti-war Democrats trying to unseat a pro-war Democrat? If you aren't seeing this locally, then you probably have a pro-war Democrat in your district. If you look at the ones that the DCCC and the Dem leadership select, they tend to be very much in favor of the status quo.
The entire leadership of the Dem party supports this war. They stage some political theater at times to pretend otherwise, but if you watch their actions they support it.
So, what you need in the Democrats is such an upheval that the Dem leadership is replaced. Don't see it happening this year. If it was happening, you'd see it in primary fights across the country where the candidates picked by DCCC and Pelosi and Reid are being defeated.
The reason you need a new leadership is that this leadership is the problem. The argument that you need 60 Senators to change anything is a perfect example. That's Reid, the Dem leader chosing to use tactics that require the max number of votes to succeed.
If he chose another strategy, like one that blocks the war and Pentagon funding with a filibuster, he could win with 41 votes.
Oh, I know now I'll hear the typical Dem nonsense against this, like they are scared of being accused by a President with 25% popularity of not supporting the troops by trying to end this war that also has about 35% popularity and that its political suicide to stand in the way of such a popular President who's fighting such a popular war.
What you do is use the blocking of the money bills as a negotiating position to force the compromise you want. Note that compromising means getting at least a bunch of what you want, which is different from the Dem leadership idea of a compromise which is to give the Republicans everything they want.
Big Oil's slick no-bid contracts will keep usa quagmired in Iraq
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2008/06/20/tucked_0622.html
Didn't you just know this was coming?
A consortium of Western oil companies — the very definition of Big Oil — is on the verge of receiving no-bid contracts in Iraq, giving them access to one of the most sought-after prizes in the petroleum industry.
Can it be mere coincidence that the leading companies in the deal — ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Total — are the very same companies that Saddam Hussein threw out when he nationalized the Iraqi oil industry more than three decades ago?
The American public has been reassured, repeatedly, that petroleum had absolutely nothing to do with the bush administration's decision to invade Iraq. president bush, the oilman from Texas, has scoffed at the idea. So has vice president dick cheney.
Does the U.S. President have the power to conclude a SOFA without the consent of the Senate? Is the only power Congress has in this instance the power to withhold money?
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