Iraqi Parliament Defeats Bill on Foreign Troop Presence in 2009
The Iraqi parliament has rejected a draft bill submitted by the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki specifying the rules under which some 4,000 British troops and small contingents from Australia, El Salvador, Estonia and Romania may remain in Iraq past Dec. 31, 2008.
The vote was 80 to 68. The Sadr Movement, which opposes foreign troop presence, appears to have played an important role in defeating the bill and inflicting a humiliation on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. This move is political payback for the military defeat al-Maliki inflicted on the Sadrist Mahdi Army last spring and early summer in Basra, Amara and Sadr City.
In an ordinary parliamentary system, al-Maliki's government would have fallen over this vote, but the Iraqi system does not work in that way.
Parliament appears to want individual Status of Forces Agreements to be conducted with each of the countries that continues to have forces in Iraq. Since there is no time for such negotiations to be concluded before January 1, this impasse may force the multinational forces out of Iraq. This expulsion is the goal of the Sadr Movement.
US troops may stay through 2011 by the terms of the SOFA passed by parliament in November.
posted by Juan Cole @ 12/20/2008 11:16:00 AM
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Thank you President Bush and Vice President Cheney for keeping us safe for 7 ½ years.
Dear Mr. President,
Thank you Sir for your courage, and your leadership that has kept the American homeland safe for every second after 9/11.
You have taken a huge challenge and make good on your promise.
Thank you for liberating Iraq from a coward and then for having the courage to build that country up again.
History may rethink your decisions and will finally understand your huge leadership to introduce democracy to a land of religious theocracies.
You may have changed the face of the future more than any other president in our recent history, in the same regard as Regan after the victory of the cold war.
The best to you Sir,
REID D. REASOR, Lt Col (Ret) USAF B.S. M.T.
Assuming you are sincere Lt.Col. Reasor, this can only point to the total disconnect between the military and the real world.
Reid D. Reasor, you have demonstrated without any doubt whatsoever that you have no contact at all with reality.
A few points:
1. Bush and his national security team failed utterly to heed the intelligence that predicted the events of September 11, and did absolutely nothing to prevent them. Therefore, they can realistically be held culpable for failing utterly to take a single step to prevent them.
2. There is no evidence that anything the Bush regime has done has prevented a terrorist attack on the "homeland" (a somewhat disturbing term) subsequent to the attacks of September 11.
3. There is no particular reason to believe that Al Qa`eda or anyone else would have had the capacity or intention to stage an attack of any kind on the "homeland", let alone a series of attacks, subsequent to September 11, with or without the Bush administration's actions.
4. Numerous studies and reports show objectively that the number and severity of terrorist attacks worldwide, and specifically the number in which the United States interests were targeted, has increased significantly as a result of the Bush regime's "War on Terrorism".
5. Apparently it has not occurred to you at all that you, sitting in your safe, secure, and comfortable armchair in the United States, are not the best judge of whether or not Iraqis have in fact been liberated. Oddly enough, the overwhelming majority of actual Iraqis who unlike you have actually lived in Iraq both before and after March, 2003, would not agree with you at all that they have been liberated, nor would most of them share your characterization of Saddam Hussein as a coward. Though few would have any truly kind words for Saddam Hussein, even fewer would have anything positive to say about your hero, George Bush.
5. You are truly delusional to the point of needing the help of a mental health professional if you actually believe at this point that Bush has done anything at all to "build that country up again".
6. I don't know how to break this to you, Reid D. Reasor, but contrary to your statement Iraq is now for the first time in its history a "religious theocracy" (redundancy alert), thanks specifically to your hero, George W. Bush. Prior to his "liberation" of that country Iraq had always been a secular state.
7. Now that your hero George W. Bush has "introduced democracy" to Iraq the Christian communities that have been an integral part of Iraqi society for twenty centuries have been largely killed off or forced to flee, as have other ancient non-Muslim groups such as the Mandaeans and Yezidis. And thanks to George W. Bush's "introduction of democracy" Iraq women, who were previously the most liberated and well educated women in the Middle East are now among the most oppressed. But hey, that's democracy, right?
Reid D. Reasor, for heaven's sake do not let reality penetrate your world view. It would be too much of a shock for your, Sir.
Well for those liberal who cannot have a conversation without being a personal attack on what you think is a battle for intellectual knowledge of the middle east, let me then be personal back, You are a do nothing liberal. Are you ready for a little reality check and a little integrity check for yourself? Here it is: Have you ever had homeless people live with you? No, didn’t think so. We have. Have you ever saved a child from abortion by housing unwed mothers? No, didn’t think so, I would be happy to introduce you to five happy teens that are alive because of us. Do you give 10% of your income to the poor? No, I didn’t think so. We do. But what you do is think that you are serving people by being a flaming liberal who hates the military. Now let me answer your questions, if you have the courage to read the answers. Do you really think that the Iraqis’ civil rights are worse off now than in 1990? It’s perfect, it works, they are allowed to express anger and frustration and love and hate and not be shot for it! This is not allowed in most of the Middle East. You really are way indoctrinated into the politics of hate. Let’s look at facts. Not one of our little children has been killed in our land for over 7.5 years because of the courage of Bush. Like him or not, that is the truth. Now do you even understand the Bush Iraqi strategy? This may seem really hard for you so I will type slowly. If they are going to try and kill us, I want them to try and kill my military warriors and not Suzy in my sand box and I want them to try and kill me on their land, not ours. War is an ugly thing and I suspect you have never seen it, but those of us who have never want our children to see it especially on our own land. Now let’s go on to democracy in the Middle East. The Middle Eastern mind thinks that the world is a theocracy. Just because you do not believe in God and have a secular government, they do not think that way about you. Let me say that another way so you may ponder this over several days so you get it, they think that our government is run by the bible and Christians. They think all governments are based in faith to God, they teach their children that, and they think that Israeli government is run by the Jewish faith, and therefore it is only natural to have a holy war. If you would like to explain why their will never be peace in the Middle East, I will be happy to enlighten you about Isaac and Ishmael.
Now on to you personally, I am a centrist, not like you who is an extremist, and loves the game of hate. Where are you going with all this anger you have? You realize naturally that only 1/6 of America believes like you do. 2/3 could care less, and the 1/3 that is active in discussions like we are having are divided. (2/3 x ½ = 1/6) So if you want to divide and hate, what is the outcome? If we keep hating like you do, there are only three possible outcomes, 1 revolution, 2 wasting all of our resources on fighting each other ( 8 billion in the last election) or 3 total collapse. Tell me what you are working for? And if you have not studied something, or been there personally a smart person would refrain from position until the educate themselves. Want to see the source of Middle East hate: Read Genesis, Abraham and Hagar. Then come on back. Ignorance and arrogance is a terrible combination.
Oh, and Shirin,
That is my real name, and what is yours? No courage? And yes, you are welcome for the freedoms we in the military have provided for you. I would rather you just said thank you, rather than hate us like you do. Keep on hating; it's making the world a better place. Get off your couch and go help someone today.
Reid Reasor, how revealing that instead of constructively addressing the seven specific facts I listed you engaged in an hysterical, irrational, incoherent rant that is pretty much unreadable.
Yes, Iraqis' civil rights are far, far worse now than they were in 1990. The civil rights of girls and women in particular are now virtually nonexistent in what used to be the best country in the Arab world for women's rights and freedoms. Christians who have lived very well in Iraq for two thousand years and made great contributions to Iraqi society, politics, intellectual life, arts, and economy, are no longer safe in their homeland. And the Mandaeans, another ancient group who were an important part of Iraqi society, have virtually all been killed or driven out of their homeland. And I could go on and on and on, but you are as deaf and blind to Iraq's reality as a stone wall.
You are living in a dream world if you believe that Iraqis are in any way better off now than they were in 1990. The country is torn apart, the society is fractured, the infrastructure is in ruins, the once first-class medical and educational system are in a state of collapse. What has always been a secular, pluralistic society is now a repressive "religious theocracy" as you call it, divided by sect and ethnicity.
And pardon me, but you and your military have not provided a single freedom for me, ever, and for the Iraqis you have provided nothing but destruction, death, and misery. It will take Iraq generations to recover from what you have provided for it.
Thank you for your assistance to your fellow Americans who are less fortunate than yourself. It is a fine thing you have done. And with all due respect, you know nothing whatsoever about me, what my political views are, how I feel about the military, and what I have and have not done in my life, therefore you have no right to comment on it.
I am sorry for you that you have so much anger in you that you need to lash out in irrational hatred at liberals. I hope you overcome it one day and realize that liberals are human beings too.
Shirin,
Your kidding, have you ever been there? I have, for years, and Iraq is far, far better off than 1990. Yes and Russia was better off with Stalin. I understand how ultra liberal do research, I have worked in the top Air Force research lab in the world, and I have seen PHD level people make any study show anything they want to. And for every study you site, I can find another one from Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Rand that dispute your “facts”.
You mean studies, like the one that claimed that race had nothing to do with the election. Come on, reality check to you, as the ultra liberals love to say, “Think for yourself.”
So you have claimed “studies” I am ready, tell me where and what. Or do you just do what CNN says?
Short memory I think. History shows that after we beat Japan, we were criticized, yelled at, condemned by other countries for excessive use of force, and we fought a terror war in Japan for years. Our people were shot and fought bombing attacks for several years after, and then we were down on those who went in to rebuild it, and give it Deming processes and now look, they are one of our dear allies.
Well guys, I think that your judgment of Bush is misplaced in the horrors of our past. All I did was thank the man for keeping his word. We have been safe, for 7 1/2 years. Why do you hate Bush so? JFK got us into Vietnam, Johnson kept us there, why not hate them? Your anger is really displaced when you think about the hundreds of thousands we killed in Vietnam because of these Democrat men. Where is your equal view of justice and judgment? And about the election, I am sorry but the US is still very conservative, look at these election results and what you see is that our ultra liberal cities such as LA, NY, Seattle, Miami and San Francisco elected Obama, and they are telling the rest of the country where to go. http://ideacorp.org/county%20results.jpg (source CNN)
I do not like Obama because he is an extreme liberal who wants to authorize anyone at ant time to use a mortised vacuum hose on unborn children, and then deny them medical care when they live through the torture, and hit the floor screaming.
Where is your outrage over this? I am pro human heartbeat, if you have a beating heart you live. No capital punishment, no stopping unborn hearts. DNC early.
The question is, what do we, you and me do to help the world be a better place? Hate Bush, hate JFK, hate Johnson, hate, hate, which does nothing. I have fought under four presidents, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and I trust them, I trust Powel when he swore to the UN that Iraq had chemical weapons. Whom do you trust?
Keep your mind open for a few years, maybe, just maybe democracy as an experiment in the Middle East will pay off. Maybe they will start to hold their own people accountable for terror. If that was the result, I would die several times over if Iran would embrace freedom and put their own terrorist on trail. History may show that Bush actually saved thousands of lives and billions of dollar by preventing further combat and loss of life. Is 4000 of US warrior worth a world that is better, and freer? I would do it again, and would love to go today if I could, I would be happy to die for that chance. What are you doing to make the world better? Do you really have an open mind?
REID REASOR
Well Sharin,
Did one of your family die in Iraq or what?
Want to really talk, reid.reasor@ideacorp.org and I will send you my phone number and you can tell me why so hate so much.
This is what spun you up,"Thank you to President Bush for keeping us safe?"
Think more about who, and why you hate so for a man giving another man thanks?
Yes, I have not only been there, I have lived there. As an Iraqi woman.
Next question.
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