MAJOR POLITICAL PROGRESS TODAY IN IRAQ
Hot off the wires…. Dateline Baghdad, August 27 (Monday).
ABC News/Reuters is reporting…
Iraq’s top Shi’ite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish leaders announced on Sunday they had reached consensus on some key laws that Washington views as vital to fostering national reconciliation.
The agreement was the most significant political development to take place in Iraq for months and was immediately welcomed by the United States, which hopes such moves will ease sectarian violence that has killed tens of thousands.
The apparent breakthrough comes two weeks before U.S. President George W. Bush’s top officials in Iraq present a report on the country that could have a major influence on future American policy in the country.
“This agreement aims to give a push to the political process which is in crisis,” government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Al-Arabiya television.
The laws need to be passed by Iraq’s fractious parliament, which has yet to receive any of the drafts.
But the appearance of Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Iraqi television with the other leaders was a rare show of public unity amid crumbling support for the government.
The other officials at the news conference were President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd; Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi; Shi’ite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, and Masoud Barzani, president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
Iraqi officials said the leaders had signed an agreement on easing restrictions on former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party joining the civil service and military.
“The new agreement includes a new draft of deBaathification, which allows those members who did not commit a crime to participate in the political process,” Dabbagh said.
He said consensus was also reached on holding provincial elections and setting up a mechanism to release some detainees held without charge, a key demand of Sunni Arabs since the majority are members of their sect.
Yasin Majid, a media adviser to Maliki, told Reuters the leaders also endorsed a draft oil law, which has already been agreed by the cabinet but has not yet gone to parliament.
DEVELOPING…..
Shouldn’t this be the lead on all of the three major MSM Sunday night network news programs? *holding breath*
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
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Don’t hold your breath, we need your analysis & valued insight. You guys give me lot’s of ammunition to challenge my co-workers with.
Besides, I think the folks who still subscribe to newspapers have learned to look in the middle pages rather than the front page because of the bias. I know I’ve shown a few of my liberal friends (what few who I have anymore) where their papers hide the things they don’t want them to know. Even though they don’t admit it, they know of the bias.
Comment by Good vs. Evil — August 26, 2007 @ 6:17 pm - August 26, 2007
[...] Original post by GayPatriot [...]
Pingback by Politics: 2008 HQ » Blog Archive » MAJOR POLITICAL PROGRESS TODAY IN IRAQ — August 26, 2007 @ 7:09 pm - August 26, 2007
*getting hyperbaric oxygen equipment ready for Bruce’s brain*
Comment by HardHobbit — August 26, 2007 @ 7:45 pm - August 26, 2007
I sure hope this is accurate but do appreciate your posting the information…thus far not covered by any other news source.
Comment by benj — August 26, 2007 @ 7:49 pm - August 26, 2007
[...] Gay Patriot is also blogging about this. [...]
Pingback by The Moment Has Passed « Nate Nelson — August 26, 2007 @ 8:35 pm - August 26, 2007
My local
seweroutlet of the MSM lead with the not-so-subtle bickering between Sen. Edwards and the other Dhimmicrat candidates and PM Maliki. That a few new Iraqi laws were in the works was mentioned as a passing-footnote.Comment by Ted B. (Charging Rhino) — August 26, 2007 @ 8:52 pm - August 26, 2007
Although the message may have got through to Maliki, it’s probably too little too late. Watch for a coup and replacement of Maliki by someone like Allawi who’s already got his high-powered Bushie-based PR firm pushing the idea. A coup would have the added benefit for the Bushies of providing more breathing room as they continue to try to run out the clock and pass the Iraq fiasco on to the next – most likely Democratic – President.
Comment by Ian S — August 26, 2007 @ 10:53 pm - August 26, 2007
How come you’re not reporting on the great news out of Basra? The Brits are handing the south over to the Mahdi Army. They’re our allies, right? Maybe at least for next week? Good grief, our brass is contemplating sending a brigade there to keep the peace!
Comment by Ian S — August 26, 2007 @ 11:45 pm - August 26, 2007
Ian, why are you promoting something that makes it obvious how your cut-and-run plan would end?
Comment by North Dallas Thirty — August 27, 2007 @ 12:08 am - August 27, 2007
Oh Hell! Been on vacation. What did I miss???
Comment by sonicfrog — August 27, 2007 @ 2:15 am - August 27, 2007
I was wondering how Democrats were going to claim this was evidence of failure. Thanks Ian for giving us a glimpse.
Oh, and just FYI, yes I question your patriotism.
Comment by Will (American Elephant) — August 27, 2007 @ 5:34 am - August 27, 2007
Although the message may have got through to Maliki, it’s probably too little too late.
So when are the liberals going to start reaching their benchmarks? It’s been almost 9 months now and they’ve done what exactly? How about that “mandate”? Haven’t done a damn thing to fulfill that one, have they?
It’s one thing to bitch about somebody else’s lack of performance when you’ve got something to show. It’s quite another to sit on your fat ass on vacation and bitch about others doing the same.
most likely Democratic – President.
The dirty little secret is that George McGovern stands a better chance of winning the presidency.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — August 27, 2007 @ 6:01 am - August 27, 2007
#7,#8 Good news is always bad news for the leftists. I’m imagining a ticker tape parade for the Commander in Chief in Iraq before he leaves office. Now lefitsts think that may be in ’12 or ’16 because as you recall Bush Cheney are suppose to seize power ala Chavez and continue their rule of terror, but anyway I see a massave outpouring of thanks for W before it is all over from the Iraqis. And the Democrats wondering what hit them. At that point Hillary will say “I was for the war, I was for the war”. hehe.
Comment by Gene in Pennsylvania — August 27, 2007 @ 10:42 am - August 27, 2007
Great observation, Ian. The ‘ceding of Basra’ to the Mahdi Army is more significant than any news-reciter has given. Consider it’s proximity to Iran. One might suggest a deal has been brokered to counter any Sunni return to the government. It’s the most strategic locaton in Iraq.
The British did a great job there and I fear there’s more to their pull-out.
I guess the next wind to blow ill will will come from the Kurds.
(But most Americans couldn’t find Iraq or Iran on a map, so what’s the big deal about Basra?)
Some jock bets on dog-fights, some strobe strumpet gets a speeding citation, prisoners fight over p.j. fashion; (Thar’s news fer yer.)
Comment by Shawmut — August 27, 2007 @ 10:52 am - August 27, 2007
Right Wing Nut House Is Skeptical. (That’s why I love the Right. People are actually allowed to debate things.)
Comment by V the K — August 27, 2007 @ 11:29 am - August 27, 2007
GP-
I came here specifically to mention to you that news like *this* is precisely the type of good news we’ve not been seeing out of Iraq, and to cheer its arrival, but that link @15 kind of takes the bloom off that particular rose.
If I read RWNH correctly, the sum total of this announcement is that the leaders agreed to draft legislation on some laws, some of which were already in draft form anyway, and the laws haven’t gone near Parliament yet. So they’ve agreed to agree in the future, assuming Parliement ever meets again. *Sigh.*
[GP Ed. Note: TP -- Can't disagree with you. But it is *political progress* nonetheless, and undercuts the ever-moving goalposts for Democrats after their "Surge is failing" talking points ran out of water. (*making the most of the drought metaphor this week*) ]
Comment by torrentprime — August 27, 2007 @ 3:57 pm - August 27, 2007
Maybe they’re just selling us each others carpets. As soon as we put any weight on one, they’ll pull it out.
Consider the cultural arcana in which they indulge; a word of agreement is only an immediate expression that can be defined after the outcome.
Comment by Shawmut — August 27, 2007 @ 6:26 pm - August 27, 2007