Majority of Iraqi Lawmakers Now Reject Occupation

[RickSp]

Majority of Iraqi Lawmakers Now Reject Occupation

More than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected for the first time on Tuesday the continuing occupation of their country. The U.S. media ignored the story. On Tuesday, without note in the U.S. media, more than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country. 144 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal, according to Nassar Al-Rubaie, a spokesman for the Al Sadr movement, the nationalist Shia group that sponsored the petition. It's a hugely significant development. Lawmakers demanding an end to the occupation now have the upper hand in the Iraqi legislature for the first time; previous attempts at a similar resolution fell just short of the 138 votes needed to pass (there are 275 members of the Iraqi parliament, but many have fled the country's civil conflict, and at times it's been difficult to arrive at a quorum). Reached by phone in Baghdad on Tuesday, Al-Rubaie said that he would present the petition, which is nonbinding, to the speaker of the Iraqi parliament and demand that a binding measure be put to a vote. Under Iraqi law, the speaker must present a resolution that's called for by a majority of lawmakers, but there are significant loopholes and what will happen next is unclear. What is clear is that while the U.S. Congress dickers over timelines and benchmarks, Baghdad faces a major political showdown of its own. The major schism in Iraqi politics is not between Sunni and Shia or supporters of the Iraqi government and "anti-government forces," nor is it a clash of "moderates" against "radicals"; the defining battle for Iraq at the political level today is between nationalists trying to hold the Iraqi state together and separatists backed, so far, by the United States and Britain.

Time to go and let the Iraqis sort things out for themselves.

[nilan3000]

I find it astonishing that the predominantly Left-wing media would not cover such an important story.

[The Decider]

Ah, they're all cut-and-runners! We must disband the Iraqi Parliament in order to save Iraqi democracy!

[GHook93]

Quote by: RickSp Majority of Iraqi Lawmakers Now Reject Occupation Time to go and let the Iraqis sort things out for themselves.

Good! Go with Tommie Thompson's Plan and have them vote if they want us there. If they vote against it, then we start the rapid pull out that same day!

[RickSp]

Quote by: nilan3000 I find it astonishing that the predominantly Left-wing media would not cover such an important story.

It took a while but the NY Times did finally cover it.

Iraq Petition Presses for Withdrawal of U.S. Troops

A majority of Iraq’s parliament has signed a petition for a legislative timetable governing a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, several parliamentarians said today.

So, to summarize:

• the majority of the Iraqi parliament wants us to leave Iraq,
• the majority of the US Congress want us to leave,
• the majority of the Iraqi public want us to leave according to public opinion polls,
• the majority of the US public want us to leave according to public opinion polls.

It looks like increasingly like only our mad King wants to "stay the course"

[Osborn F Enready]

I have been waiting to see the "pro-war" reactions to this.

[Century 25]

Quote by: Osborn F Enready I have been waiting to see the "pro-war" reactions to this.

lol.. the invisible supporters.. Who was it that said "you can fool all the people some of the time.. and some of the people all the time.. but ya can't fool all of them.. all the time.. Sorry Bush.. (not really)..