“We are the winners. We have won the elections. It is our constitutional duty to form the government.” This was the angry reaction of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, the winner in last month’s Iraqi elections. The news this week that the courts disqualified 52 candidates for alleged ties to the Baath party has thrown the outcome of the vote into deeper uncertainty and heightened fears of sectarian violence. At least one of the candidates comes from Mr. Allawi’s bloc. As if that wasn’t enough, Mr. Allawi is also calling for a caretaker government to prevent any attempt to “steal the will of the Iraqi people.” His bloc has further asked for the extension of the outgoing parliament “for the purpose of monitoring the executive branch” until a new one is in place. (more)
Even as al-Qaida continues their last-ditch efforts at thwarting the ongoing progress in Iraq, and the election fiasco continues, our military involvement is slowly winding up. The U.S. military says that by Sept. 1, 50,000 U.S. Soldiers will remain at 96 bases throughout Iraq. “Operation New Dawn” will commence. (more)
Just days after the Iraqi court ordered a recount of the province that includes Baghdad, now comes word that former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi wants to go deeper in the process. “What worries us now, although we are committed to a manual recount and we believe in it very strongly … is why other areas have not been included,” Mr. Allawi said in remarks earlier this week. (more)
It’s official. An Iraqi court has ordered a partial recount of the March 7 election results despite assurances from the United States and United Nations that the vote was fair and free. Shortly after the elections, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called the results “unacceptable and unreasonable” and demanded a recount. The ruling is limited to the province that includes Baghdad but the Prime Minister hopes that’s enough to move him ahead of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi in a vote that is reminiscent of the 2000 Presidential election in the United States. “Baghdad, with a total of 70 seats, was by far the biggest prize for parties competing,” according to AFP. Mr. Maliki has said he will accept the final results but the potential for Mr. Allawi to be upended has everyone on edge and fearful of looming violence. (more)
As if things couldn’t get any more unsettling in Iraq, word came down this week that the Justice and Accountability Committee is recommending six individuals, elected to parliament in the March 7 elections on the winning ticket of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, be dismissed. (more)
Baghdad (AP) — With the complete results in Iraq’s election just days away, there were signs Monday the two front runners were reaching out to other political parties, signaling the start of the jockeying to form the next ruling coalition. (more)
Today marks the 7th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War and it’s quite remarkable to see just how far this country has come. In looking at the preliminary election results it’s hard not to reflect on the 2000 presidential election in the United States. It’s close and the votes are still being tallied. At one point this week, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki trailed his closest contender, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Now, with al-Maliki back in the lead, some 40,000 votes separate their coalitions out of 83 percent counted. He is fighting for his political life. (more)
It has been nearly a week since Iraqis stepped into the ballot box and made history once again. Even some Western experts who predicted a 55 percent-60 percent turnout were surprised when the election commission announced that 62 percent of Iraq voted. Partial results released Thursday evening from five of Iraq’s 18 provinces showed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki with a slight lead. Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was doing well in Sunni areas north and west. (more)
Iraq’s election commission has postponed announcing initial results from Sunday’s parliamentary election because it says it has not finished counting enough votes. (more)
The events of Election Day in Iraq were truly breathtaking. Despite repeated attacks around the country by the enemy that killed some 35 people to frighten Iraqis away from the polls, their perseverance showed. Miguel Marquez of ABC News summed it up this way: “Iraqis are really tough.” Walid Abid, a 40-year-old father of two, spoke as mortars landed several hundreds yards away from his polling station. “I am not scared and I am not going to stay put at home. Until when? We need to change things. If I stay home and not come to vote, it will get worse.” Another voter, Maliq Bedawi, said, “Iraqi people are not afraid of bombs any more. We took our children with us.” (more)
The relative stability in Iraq over the past two years has deceived many to conclude that Iraq will eventually sort itself out. Such complacency will unwittingly contribute to greater turmoil. Whatever progress has been achieved is modest at best and far from irreversible. U.S. engagement at all levels remains indispensable to Iraq’s future and broader regional security. (more)
As voting begins in Iraq, the Iranian government is wringing their hands with fear and nervousness that this young democracy will alter the landscape of the Middle East into something they do not welcome. “They continue to play a role in supporting surrogates inside of Iraq that continue to conduct attacks both against U.S. and Iraqi security forces,” Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said at a Pentagon press conference last week. (more)
BAGHDAD (AP) — A string of deadly blasts shattered an early round of voting in Iraq Thursday, killing 17 people and highlighting the fragile nature of the country’s security gains ahead of crucial parliamentary elections this Sunday. (more)
In the years after the the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent failure to find WMD, the American media flagellated itself publicly over its lack of skepticism of Bush administration cassus belli claims. We endured reams of essays about the supine nature of the corporate-owned media, the supposed disinformation campaign of the White House, the “lies” on WMD claims (that had also been made by Democrats in Congress from 1998 until the invasion), and so on. To this day, the American media still considers their self-described blind acceptance of claims about intelligence without sufficient investigation as an indictment on their industry — and a consequence of the Internet-driven changes to the media market. (more)
Is a new day slowly dawning for Iraq? In about a week, the Iraqi people will go to the polls once again in perhaps the most important election to date since the 2003 war began. This is yet another milestone in an ongoing series of transitions that began on Jan. 1, 2009. I was in Iraq then and in a journal wrote of that first milestone. “Today was the moment the U.S. and Iraqis have waited for—the Security Agreement is now in effect that will chart the future course of Iraq with the eventual drawdown of U.S. forces here.” (more)
We might have known that come election time in Iraq, it’s rarely the voting that counts. (more)
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