Jalal Talabani was sworn in as Iraq’s President just now, and he then immediately (or, not quite immediately enough) named Ibrahim al-Jaafari as Prime Minister.
According to the TAL, this is what now happens (that link goes to an AP summary, not the original TAL):
- The prime minister has one month to recommend his Council of Ministers, or Cabinet, to the President’s Council. The prime minister and President’s Council will then seek a vote of confidence by simple majority from the National Assembly before starting their work as a government. If the prime minister does not nominate the ministers within one month, the President’s Council names a new prime minister.
We are still therefore some distance from having a government that is answerable to the National Assembly elected January 30 in place, and exercising executive power in Iraq.
The “Democracy denied in Iraq” counter will continue.
Who knows whether Jaafari and Talabani will be able to agree on a government list rapidly, slowly, or indeed at all?
Meantime, the Bremer-appointed Allawi continues to “run” things. (I.e., control the patronage machine, rake in the dough, and try to keep his hangers-on in and his enemies out of sensitive and/or lucrative positions.)
It looks as though– under the TAL– Jaafari still needs to go through Talabani to get his list to the Assembly. Will Talabani be helpful or obstructive in this process? Let’s hope the former.
But it wasn’t a good omen that he “forget” to even mention the naming of Jaafari until after most of the assembled t.v. cameras had stopped rolling.
Allawi has resigned, new PM has been selected and you still counting? Obviously you have no clue as to the parliamentary process, such as how a government is formed in Europe or Canada. Sometimes it takes as much as 6 months and multiple elections to arrive at a coalition government. I suggest you educate yourself to due parliamentary process and stop supporting the kidnappers and beheaders.
Fascinating WaPo article: An Old U.S. Foe Rises Again in Iraq – Shiite Mahdi Army Growing Bolder in South by Anthony Shadid http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A35586-2005Apr7?language=printer
Raza, when you make a claim for space on my bandwidth could you please keep your remarks courteous, short, and on the topic of the main post. Writing “you have no clue…” is discourteous and the other things you tried to post here were wildly off-topic. Please review the commenters’ guidelines before you post again.
Peter, yes that is a great article. I’m hoping to do a bigger post about it later today.
From the WP article – “At your service, Sadr! At your service, Moqtada!” the men chanted in formation. “We hear a voice calling us!”
What idiots. Instead of getting an education or a job, they are being paid to shout fascism and loaded up with ideology. And the leftist-fascists and Islamic romanticists on this blog are cheering them on. Pathetic.
Not to worry though. The new government will dispatch its army and intelligence operatives, and with the blessing of Sistani put an end to this imbecility. And if they have any trouble doing that, well that is what the Apache’s and AC130s are made for. As long as these Islamofascists are training themselves for violence, SCIRI and Dawa will demand Americans to stay. So in many ways, such imbecility works to the advantage of the US occupation.
To Helena’s chagrin, they have no choice but to join civil society, or get killed or imprisoned.
There is nothing romantic about religious fascism. Get a liberal education guys.
Another interesting story: “http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/297057p-254323c.html”
via Steve Gilliard “http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2005/04/holy-shit-now-theyre-diggng-foxholes.html”
It seems that after the elections the iraqi resistance is now able to attac and retreat(!)in company-size.
Peter – this new tactic is born out of desparation. You are behind the news curve. Pls. read soldier’s blogs on how easy it was for the Abu Ghraib defenders to not only repel the attack but massacre a good number of the fascist beheaders.
Basically the Islamofascists have seen the new Iraqi army pick up their followers, and have decided the only way to win is to make large scale attacks.
I read an account of how the ditches surrounding Abu Ghraib was filled with body parts. Yup that is Islamofascist body parts.
Helena, do we have to put up with the violent, hateful islamophobic rantings of this individual?
Shirin –
violent? Where do I preach violence?
Hateful? Repeating facts is never hateful.
Islamophic? So what is wrong with detesting Islam? Is there a rule somewhere that I am forced to like such ideology?
Razavipour, you said: “So what is wrong with detesting Islam? Is there a rule somewhere that I am forced to like such ideology?”
Oh my God, i am a atheist, but in in your case I am praying: dear god, let wisdom falling.
Peter – as is typical with western leftist fascists, you are confusing the ideology of Islam with the body of people who adhere to this ideology. Detesting Islam or Islamism is very different from hating a group of people or persons.
So Mr. wise guy, what is wrong with detestng Islam and why is it different from detesting fascism or communism?
Friends, I’m sorry that Mr/Ms. Razavipour never did seem to understand the value or rules of friendly, courteous discourse. I always feel a bit sorry when I see someone who seems so consumed with hurt, bitterness or whatever that he (she?) ends up spitting out such great wads of hatred… In my experience hatred is ways more corrosive of the person who holds it than of anyone else. But still, someone consumed by it can make the environment pretty hostile for everyone else as well.
Adios, Raza. Go in peace.
Helena – could you tell me what was discourteous about my last post to Peter that you deleted and banned my IP address? I guess Saddam-like tactics is still popular among this group.
Shirin can go and at will name call others as “violent” and “hateful” and you have no problem with her courtesy. You have consistently display ideological bias in your censorship.
“wads of hatred” ? Again, show me what was so hateful – against persons, race or ethnicities in my writings – instead of yourself committing verbal violence (censorship).
And BTW, the “bandwidth” you mentioned as a motive for censorship costs less than 0.01 cents, and you dont even pay for it. As we like to say in the Middle East, xar xodety. LOL
Violent, hateful, islamophobi – and now whiny.
Peter Hofmann
Thanks for the link,
My comment not to support Mahdy Armey or any faction but I speak as a normal Iraqi voice
“The silent majority is not with him, but the majority of active people are,” said Ayatollah Mohammed Taqi Mudarrassi, a cleric in Karbala
Folks – This is the 3rd time that Helena has banned me and blacklisted my IP address and twice has censored my posts.
Just wanted to let you know that this oh so “just world” person has no qualms in censoring those she disagrees with. This is the kind of world she wants. One with a Saddam-like secret police going and eliminating those that she disagrees with. This is exactly how she runs her blog. Just deleting those she wishes not to hear from.
Shirin – you continue with name calling, name calling, and more name calling.
And very little ability to participate in the discussion.
What a disaster.
Raza, I am not “censoring” or “eliminating” you. You’re quite free to go start your own blog and post your thoughts into cyberspace from there.
This one is my bandwidth. I have no clue what motivates you to keep coming back to JWN with your hostile, ad-feminam slurs and your hate-inciting Islamophobia, and I have zero interest in speculating about your motivations or your circumstances.
Just please buzz off and quit stalking me and the readers of the blog.
The main topic of this post and discussion, folks, is Iraq.
Thanks so much to Peter and Salah for the continuing contributions and links you’ve provided.
Helena: Raza, I am not “censoring” or “eliminating” you. You’re quite free to go start your own blog and post your thoughts into cyberspace from there.
This one is my bandwidth. I have no clue what motivates you to keep coming back to JWN with your hostile, ad-feminam slurs and your hate-inciting Islamophobia, and I have zero interest in speculating about your motivations or your circumstances.
Are you saying that my comments are unwanted because you don’t like them and can’t deal with them?
If I raise the misogyny of Islam and Mohammad, how does that become ad-feminam?
You keep on repeating your charges and name calling of “hatred, violent, ad feminam, etc.” without providing a shred of evidence. Could you not just say what you disliked, in your Saddam-like “eliminative” so-called just world? Or just like Saddam, you strike to instill eliminative fear and terror?
And the obvious reason I post on your comment board is because of the falsehoods (such as Iraqis are “prevented” from forming a government) and other such contrafactual commentary that I see (e.g. Allawi to be damned, even though he is appointed by the elected parliament of Iraq). This blog is an insult to each and every middle easterner, myself being one, and a slap in the face of any free thinking and open minded person that values an unbiased, empirical and rational approach to complex issues.
So if you wish to continue playing “eliminative discourse from a position of power” and continue to be intolerant – blacklisting and censoring those who you don’t like – then this is certainly not my place or the place of any freedom loving middle easterner.
And I challenge you to explain to your readers what is wrong with blasting that decrepit religion Islam, or Islamism, as long as the rights of its indoctrinated followers are respected and guaranteed. So stop the nonsensical “Islamophobia” name calling and get on with the issue.
Note: My IP address has been blacklisted by Helena (“just world” LOL) 2 times so far.
Raza is now showing a textbook skinnerian response.
Salah,
I have not yet told you, ya akhi Salah, how much I value and appreciate your comments here. Sometimes I might see a detail or two differently from the way you see them, but I agree with you completely on the main ideas, and you sometimes show me things I have not thought of, or ways to think of things that I did not see before.
As you know, Sistani is not only Iranian descent, but he was born and grew up in Iran, and came to Iraq from there. Unlike Ayat Ullahs Sadr, Al Hakim and others, he was able to remain and survive in Iraq throughout Saddam’s rule by not openly opposing the regime. Otherwise he would surely have been killed or forced to return to Iran. Now that he sees the opportunity, he is becoming less and less the “quietist”, and showing his true political brilliance, patience, discipline and an unbelievable sense of timing. All his actions (and all his periods of apparent inaction) are, of course, coldly calculated to achieve the final goal of turning Iraq into The Shi`i Islamic Republic of Iraq. He has used his enormous power over the Shi`a community well, in my opinion, by ordering Shi`as not to retaliate for the attacks on them, which apparently are coming from the horrible Shi`a-hating Wahhabi elements (another evil for which we can thank George Bush). This is not to say that I support his goals at all. I far prefer a secular state in Iraq, but I cannot help admiring him in many ways.