Iraqi PM: Parliament Should Nix Vacation
Denon AH-D7100 / Denon
Iraq's prime minister urged parliament on Saturday to cancel or shorten its summer vacation to pass laws Washington considers crucial to Iraq's stability and the debate on how long U.S. forces should remain.
Parliament was scheduled to adjourn for all of August. American officials, however, began pressing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and parliament late last year to pass at least two laws viewed as a way to defuse the sectarian violence crippling Iraq: one on the distribution of oil and another on how to handle former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party.
Al-Maliki's office said he discussed parliament's failure to pass key legislation during a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and presidential adviser Meghan O'Sullivan. There was no immediate report on the meeting from U.S. officials.
A statement by the Shiite prime minister's office said he "hoped that the parliament would cancel its summer vacation or limit it to (two weeks) to help the government solve the pending issues on top of which (are) the vacant ministerial posts."
In northeast Baghdad, meanwhile, the U.S. military said it killed six militants in an air strike on a Shiite stronghold. Iraqi officials and relatives of the victims claimed 18 civilians died in the attack.
The infusion of about 30,000 more American forces, completed last month, was President Bush's attempt to calm the capital and give parliament and al-Maliki "breathing space" to pass the legislation. But so far nothing of consequence has reached the floor of the legislature and some are predicting the critical oil law might not even be taken up until September.
The oil law, approved by al-Maliki's Cabinet but not sent to parliament because of major opposition, calls for a fair distribution of the income from Iraq's massive petroleum resources among Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis.
Sunnis, who make up the bulk of the insurgency, have virtually no known oil reserves in their territories yet still oppose the current draft legislation. Kurds, who control large reserves in northern Iraq, also oppose the measure because it could loosen their control over a key asset.
Shiites, meanwhile, opposed the measure on former Baath members because it would allow many former members of the Saddam's regime to return to their old jobs. The former regime heavily oppressed Iraq's Shiite majority, which has gained political ascendancy since the 2003 U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam.
American commander Gen. David Petraeus must report to Congress on progress in Iraq by Sept. 15, and the absence of legislative progress will cast a heavy cloud over any attempt to paint a positive picture.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, said it ordered the air strike near the Shiite stronghold of Husseiniyah after American forces came under small-arms fire from a structure there late Friday. It said helicopters fired missiles at the building and three gunmen fled to a second building nearby.
U.S. aircraft then bombed the second structure, setting off at least seven secondary explosions believed caused by explosives and munitions stored inside the building, the military said.
Iraqi police inspected the site and reported six militants killed and five wounded, it said.
The military account contradicted reports from Iraqi police and hospital officials, who said 18 civilians had been killed and 21 wounded in a 2 a.m. attack in Husseiniyah, an area in which Shiite militias operate openly near the road leading to volatile Diyala province.
AP Television News videotape showed wounded women and children lying in hospital beds, and white pickup trucks carrying at least 11 bodies wrapped in blankets to the morgue. Men unloaded the bodies, including several that were small and apparently children, as women shrouded in black wailed in mourning.
Relatives said the dead were killed in the air strike. The conflicting accounts could not be reconciled.
The Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution, also said three houses were destroyed and five cars were damaged.
Loyalists of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia operates in the Husseiniyah area, condemned the air strikes.
In other violence Saturday:
— A minibus was struck in a mortar attack in the predominantly Shiite area of Baladiyat in eastern Baghdad. At least five people died and 11 were wounded, police said.
— Mortars also slammed into the eastern outskirts of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding four, another officer said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.
— The U.S. military announced that a roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier in Diyala province on Friday, raising to at least 3,631 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
— The Iraqi army said troops have detained 46 suspected militants and killed five others since launching a new operation Wednesday in the eastern half of volatile Diyala province. A kidnap victim also was freed and two car bombs and six other explosive devices were seized, it said.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have stepped up efforts in recent weeks against the violence in Diyala, particularly in the provincial capital, Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Parliament was scheduled to adjourn for all of August. American officials, however, began pressing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and parliament late last year to pass at least two laws viewed as a way to defuse the sectarian violence crippling Iraq: one on the distribution of oil and another on how to handle former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party.
Al-Maliki's office said he discussed parliament's failure to pass key legislation during a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and presidential adviser Meghan O'Sullivan. There was no immediate report on the meeting from U.S. officials.
A statement by the Shiite prime minister's office said he "hoped that the parliament would cancel its summer vacation or limit it to (two weeks) to help the government solve the pending issues on top of which (are) the vacant ministerial posts."
In northeast Baghdad, meanwhile, the U.S. military said it killed six militants in an air strike on a Shiite stronghold. Iraqi officials and relatives of the victims claimed 18 civilians died in the attack.
The infusion of about 30,000 more American forces, completed last month, was President Bush's attempt to calm the capital and give parliament and al-Maliki "breathing space" to pass the legislation. But so far nothing of consequence has reached the floor of the legislature and some are predicting the critical oil law might not even be taken up until September.
The oil law, approved by al-Maliki's Cabinet but not sent to parliament because of major opposition, calls for a fair distribution of the income from Iraq's massive petroleum resources among Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis.
Sunnis, who make up the bulk of the insurgency, have virtually no known oil reserves in their territories yet still oppose the current draft legislation. Kurds, who control large reserves in northern Iraq, also oppose the measure because it could loosen their control over a key asset.
Shiites, meanwhile, opposed the measure on former Baath members because it would allow many former members of the Saddam's regime to return to their old jobs. The former regime heavily oppressed Iraq's Shiite majority, which has gained political ascendancy since the 2003 U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam.
American commander Gen. David Petraeus must report to Congress on progress in Iraq by Sept. 15, and the absence of legislative progress will cast a heavy cloud over any attempt to paint a positive picture.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, said it ordered the air strike near the Shiite stronghold of Husseiniyah after American forces came under small-arms fire from a structure there late Friday. It said helicopters fired missiles at the building and three gunmen fled to a second building nearby.
U.S. aircraft then bombed the second structure, setting off at least seven secondary explosions believed caused by explosives and munitions stored inside the building, the military said.
Iraqi police inspected the site and reported six militants killed and five wounded, it said.
The military account contradicted reports from Iraqi police and hospital officials, who said 18 civilians had been killed and 21 wounded in a 2 a.m. attack in Husseiniyah, an area in which Shiite militias operate openly near the road leading to volatile Diyala province.
AP Television News videotape showed wounded women and children lying in hospital beds, and white pickup trucks carrying at least 11 bodies wrapped in blankets to the morgue. Men unloaded the bodies, including several that were small and apparently children, as women shrouded in black wailed in mourning.
Relatives said the dead were killed in the air strike. The conflicting accounts could not be reconciled.
The Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution, also said three houses were destroyed and five cars were damaged.
Loyalists of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia operates in the Husseiniyah area, condemned the air strikes.
In other violence Saturday:
— A minibus was struck in a mortar attack in the predominantly Shiite area of Baladiyat in eastern Baghdad. At least five people died and 11 were wounded, police said.
— Mortars also slammed into the eastern outskirts of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding four, another officer said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.
— The U.S. military announced that a roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier in Diyala province on Friday, raising to at least 3,631 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
— The Iraqi army said troops have detained 46 suspected militants and killed five others since launching a new operation Wednesday in the eastern half of volatile Diyala province. A kidnap victim also was freed and two car bombs and six other explosive devices were seized, it said.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have stepped up efforts in recent weeks against the violence in Diyala, particularly in the provincial capital, Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
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http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0930-05.htm
US Vice-President Al Gore has told Iraqi opposition politicians that the United States remains committed to the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein. BBC 6/2000
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1854092/posts
"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
Moreover, no international law can prevent the United States from taking actions to protect its vital interests, when it is manifestly clear that there is a choice to be made between law and survival. I believe, however, that such a choice is not presented in the case of Iraq. Indeed, should we decide to proceed, that action can be justified within the framework of international law rather than outside it. In fact, though a new UN resolution may be helpful in building international consensus, the existing resolutions from 1991 are sufficient from a legal standpoint. - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/gore/gore092302sp.html
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/17/transcripts/clinton.iraq/
"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face." --Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998
http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/02/20/98022006_tpo.html
"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983." --Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998
http://www.usatoday.com/news/index/iraq/iraq172.htm
"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." -- Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1584/is_9_10/ai_59021377
Adversarial Myopia
http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=8570
the resumption of hostilities was only a matter of time since iraq broke the ceasefire agreement.....
blame saddam for iraq%u2026%u2026. Even clintoon and the dems wanted the resumption of hostilities back in 1998
Iraq Liberation Act of 1998
http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/iraq/libact103198.pdf
http://www.iraqwatch.org/government/US/Legislation/ILA.htm
http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec98/cr100598.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Liberation_Act
"As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I am keenly aware that the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons is an issue of grave importance to all nations. Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." - Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998
http://www.house.gov/pelosi/priraq1.htm
"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line." - President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998
http://www.cnn.com/US/9802/04/us.un.iraq/
WASHINGTON (Feb. 18) -- In preparing the nation for a possible war with Iraq,
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/18/iraq.political.analysis/
Posted by brianbwb at 03:16 AM : Jul 22, 2007,,,
The U.S. is in a very tricky situation in regards to Turkey. The U.S. has military bases in Turkey and an important air base, in addition Turkey is a U.S. ally. If Turkey crosses the Iraqi border the U.S. may have to confront them and Turkey has an estimated 140,000 Troops massed, almost the same number of U.S. forces in all of Iraq. The only thing probably giving Turkey pause from a full invasion of Iraq is the 2 U.S. Aircraft Carrier Battle Groups in the region with a 3rd Aircraft Carrier Battle Group en route and about to join the other 2 within a week. I don't think the U.S. will fight with Turkey, but Turkey needs to understand the U.S. will protect its forces in Iraq and with 3 Carrier Battle Groups and an increased U.S. Air Force presence in the region, the U.S. won't have any problems doing it, but I really hope it never comes to that.
Posted by RandalDS"
Which also disproves the "America's vital interests" rationale for the war, the only rationale still pretending to stand after all the others were shown to be lies.
You mean the same Muqtada Al Sadr that Bush handed Saddam over to so he could be lynched? The Al Sadr whose name was chanted as Saddam dangled on the end of Bush's rope?
"...nor the Kurds will stand for Al Qaeda in their villages after the U.S. leaves. Posted by gdmoore2"
The Kurds won't be standing for much anyway, the Turks are invading northern Iraq to finish what Saddam, with logistics help from the CIA, started with the gas. Strange that the US doesn't seem to care about the Kurds dying now that Saddam is dead...
Companies from China, India and other Asian nations are seen getting the first contracts. But don't write off Big Oil just yet.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/05/ne
ws/international/iraq_oil/index.htm"
Posted by lars008 at 05:52 PM : Jul 21, 2007
That was because the US didn't want to deal with Saddam, so he dealt with China and India instead Lars because he needed outsider help. Iraqis see this as a chance for them to explore and develop their own resources, but Bush is insisting he do it instead. So much for democracy over dictatorship.
Posted by SamTheTVCat at 06:01 PM : Jul 21, 2007
And, surprise surprise, most of the oil we pump out of Alaska goes to China too! The "American" oil companies make more money selling it to oil hungry China then refining it and selling it to the US! Most of the oil we import and refine actually comes from Canada, strangely enough.