Chaos in Iraqi Parliament

Now here's something you will never hear about from the BBC. One of the Iraqi MP's, a women, objected to Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani (the speaker of the parliament), after her driver was beaten up and sent to hospital by Mashhadani's body guards. He ordered all the journalists to leave the building and tried to silence the women after she objected.

Apparently, the Iraqi MP's driver was standing next to the guards and his mobile phone was ringing constantly which irritated the guards. The ringtone was a Shia "Latmiya" (I don't know the exact English translation so im not even going to bother)...Lets just say it was a Shia ringtone. The guards got pissed off and beat the driver up. The Iraqi MP then took the case to court, and she won.

In a final twist, one day after the court case was won, her driver was shot dead by "unknown assailants".

Only in Iraq...

Hero

I was honoured last night to have been invited to a reception at the Iraqi embassy for Iraq's First Lady, Hero Ibrahim Ahmed, the wife of Iraq's President Jalal Talabani. The make-shift embassy is in fact the residential home of Iraq's Ambassador to the United Kingdom, or more formally, the Ambassodor of the Republic of Iraq to the Court of St. James's...Salah Al Shaikhly (named Shaikhly because of the place his family used to live in Baghdad...Baab Al Sheikh). He set up the Iraqi National Accord with Iyad Allawi in 1991.

When you walk in, there is an Iraqi flag (I didn't manage to get a good look at it, but i think it was the pre-1991 flag with no writing) at the corner with a framed picture of Jalal Talabani sitting beside it on a posh glass desk (I'm not so sure if that's always there or only because his wife was coming) and quite a few pictures of Shaikhly scattered around the house. I met someone who used to work at the embassy, believe it or not, she told me they used to get paid £600-£800 a month...I've always wanted to work at that embassy...but after hearing that I changed my mind. After drinking 5 glasses of Cranberry Juice, eating lots and lots of Kubba (meat wrapped around rice) and Dolma (rice wrapped around vine leaves) and shaking a few hands, she finally arrived.

Hero Ibrahim Ahmed, is a respected business women, owner of a satellite channel, founder of the Kurdistan Women's Association, daughter of Ibrahim Ahmed (was the secretary general of the KDP) and wife of Jalal Talabani (President of Iraq and founder of the PUK). I dont think she can speak Arabic like her husband, because I didnt understand a word she said when I greeted her, so it must have been in Kurdish. I was actually quite disappointed though, because the guys who invited me told me she was going to be speaking...but nothing happened, we all came, we all ate, we all talked, she walked in, everyone shook hands...we all left. That was it.

Whose Who in the Cabinet!?

After almost half a year, the Iraqi's have finally agreed on a cabinet that will lead this country for the next four years. There are of course some very pointless and stupid ministries that were set up for the sole purpose of satisfying a group or party that will have complained of being left out had their members not been chosen to be ministers for these useless ministries.

The cabinet is made up of 20 Shia Arab's, 8 Kurd's, 8 Sunni Arab's and a Christian. Its made up of the Prime Minister, 2 Deputy Prime Ministers, & 35 Ministers (4 of which are women). Its a 40-position Cabinet, but there are (so far) 37 Ministers, because there are 3 of them who are running 2 ministries each. Noori Al Malaki, has promised to find suitable candidates for the Defence and Interior portfolios in a few days. Malaki should be given alot of credit for managing to come up with a list of names that almost everybody agrees on.

The UIA (mostly Shia Arab's) have as expected recieved the majority of the positions:

Prime Minister:
-Noori Al Malaki (acting Minister of Interior)

Minister of Finance:
-Bayan Jabor

Minister of Oil:
-Hussain al-Shahristani

Minister of Electricity:
-Karim Waheed.

Minister of Trade:
-Abed Falah al-Sudani

Minister of State:
-Hassan Rhadi Khazim

Minister for National Dialouge:
-Akram Al Hakim

Minister of State:
-Mohammed Abbas

Minister for Social Affairs:
-Mahmoud Al Radhi

Minister of Municipalities:
-Riyadh Gharib

Minister of Education:
-Khdhayir Al Khuzai

Minister of Health:
-Ali Al Shamari

Minister of State for Civil Society Affairs:
-Adel Al Asadi

Minister of State for House of Representatives affairs:
-Safa al-Safi

Minister of Youth and Sports:
-Jassim Mohammed Jaafar

Minister of State for Tourism and Archaeology affairs:
-Liwa Semeism

Minister of Transport:
-Karim Mahdi

Minister of Migration:
-Abdul-Samad Rahman

Minister of Agriculture:
-Yarrub Nazim

Minister of Culture:
-Asad Kamal Mohammed [Feyli Kurd]

Here is where the other seats went (and the parties they belong to):

Iyad Allawi, leader of the Iraqi National List

Minister of Justice:
-Hashim Al Shibli [Sunni Arab]

Minister of Human Rights:
-Wijdan Mikhael [Christian women]

Minister of Communications:
-Mohammed Allawi [Shia Arab]

Minister of Science and Technology:
-Ra'ad Fahmi Jahid [Sunni Arab]


Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

Deputy Prime Minister & acting Minister of State for National Security:
-Barham Saleh [Kurd]

Minister of Water Resources:
-Abdul Latif Rashid [Kurd]

Minister of Environment:
-Narmin Uthman [Kurdish women]

Minister of Housing and Construction:
-Bayan Dazee [Kurdish women]


Adnan Al Dulaimi, leader of the Iraqi Accord Front

Deputy Prime Minister & acting Minister of Defence:
-Salam Al Zubai [Sunni Arab]

Minister of Higher Education:
-Abd Dhiyab Al Ajaili [Sunni Arab]

Minister of Planning:
-Ali Baban [Sunni Arab]

Minister of State for Womens affairs:
-Fatin Abdul Rahman Mahmud [Sunni Arab women]

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs:
-Rafa Esawi [Sunni Arab]

Minister of State for Provincial Affairs:
-Saad Tahir [Sunni Arab]


Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party

Minister of Foreign Affairs:
-Hoshyar Zebari [Kurd]

Minister of State:
-Ali Mohammed Ahmed [Kurd]

Minister of Industry:
-Fawzi Al Hariri [Kurd]

Just Another Day

Today was just one of those days.

HAWIJA - Iraqi police sources said two civilians were killed when U.S. soldiers opened fire after a roadside bomb attack in the northern town of Hawija. No U.S. soldiers were wounded, the police sources added. There was no immediate U.S. comment.

BALAD RUZ - A roadside bomb in Balad Ruz killed two civilians and wounded three, police in the town northeast of Baghdad said.

BAGHDAD - Heavy clashes erupted between insurgents and Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad's northern Adhamiya district, police said. There was no immediate word on the number of casualties.

BAGHDAD - Five civilians were killed and eight wounded when a roadside bomb went off at al-Tayaran Square, western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

MAHAWEEL - The corpses of three police commandos, who were kidnapped two days ago, were found in a small river with a single bullet to the head in the town of Mahaweel, 75 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

MUQDADIYA - Gunmen in two cars killed two men in a drive-by shooting in a market in the town of Muqdadiya, 90 km northeast of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Five civilians were killed and another 10 wounded when a car bomb exploded near a courthouse in western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - One U.S. soldier was killed when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in the southeast of the capital, the U.S. military said in a statement.

BAGHDAD - Five civilians were killed and another 10 wounded when a car bomb exploded near a courthouse in western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

KHALISA - The bodies of two Iraqi journalists, who work for the Iraqi al-Nahrain satellite channel, were found dead with a single bullet to the head after they were kidnapped on Sunday in al-Khalisa, a town about 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police and employees of the channel said.

BAGHDAD - Two civilians were killed and eight wounded when a roadside bomb went off at al-Tayaran Square, western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military and Iraq's government said that Ali Wali, a chemical expert and a Kurdish member of the militant Ansar al-Islam group, was killed on Saturday during a raid operation in Mansour District, west-central Baghdad.

NEAR TAL AFAR - A U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded on Sunday after they came under insurgent fire while helping Iraqi security forces clear a building near Tal Afar, about 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, the military said on Monday.

MUSSAYAB - An insurgent was killed and two policemen were wounded during clashes that erupted after a bomb exploded near an oil pipeline on Monday in Mussayab, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad.

DAQUQ - Gunmen killed a civilian in the small town of Daquq, 30 km (20 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb and a car bomb exploded in quick succession wounding 17 civilians, including four policemen, in an apparent ambush, in eastern Baghdad on Monday, a source in the Interior Ministry said.

BAGHDAD - The bodies of six people bearing signs of torture and with gun wounds to their heads were found in different areas in Baghdad on Monday, a Ministry of Interior source said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen fired at a bus carrying employees working for the Ministry of Higher Education on Monday, killing its driver and wounding three employees in Yarmouk district of the capital, a Ministry of Interior source said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi army detained 25 suspects on Sunday in the cities of Tal Afar, Kirkuk, Tikrit and Ramadi, the Iraqi army said on Monday.

(Reuters)

Iraq Warns Iran...'Dont Mess With Us'

I was delighted today when i read that the out-going Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has warned Iran about their troops on the Iraq-Iran border and told them that Iraq doesn't want any "problems" from Iran and that the Iraqi government can work without "interference" from them.

I was even happier when I heard that a top Iraqi Kurdish official gave a similar warning to the PKK, telling them that they must respect Iraqi law and not stage attacks against Iran or Turkey from Iraqi soil.

Zebari was very diplomatic with Iran, I mean Iran just sent its army into Iraq and shelled a few villages, (that's like sticking up a middle finger at Iraq's sovereignty), and all Zebari has to say to that is 'we don't want problems', but still...at least he warned them. Its a lot more than what other Iraqi politicians have said...Well its got to be because they havnt said anything at all.

Unlike other politicians, this man isn't afraid to stand up for Iraq and tell our dear peaceful brotherly neighbour Iran to mind its own business (I'm sure what he really wanted to tell them is: "shove your army up where the sun don't shine"...but he's a minister, so I can understand why he needs to be diplomatic)...Well done Zebari!

Iranian Army in Iraq

I still cannot believe that not a single Iraqi official has condemned the Iranian border violations and the shelling of Kurdish bases in Iraq. The Iranian army fired 180 shells at a PKK base and according to the Iraqi Major-General Abd al-Aziz Muhammad they crossed 5km into Iraqi territory before deciding to pull back.

If this was the Syrian or Saudi armies crossing into Iraq, I am sure all hell will be raised in Iraq's parliament, but for them it seems to be okay for the Iranians to use their filthy armed forces to attack their enemies inside Iraq. Iraq's Parliament Speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani has asked the defence and foreign ministries to report the border violations.

The Iraqi government must make it clear to Tehran that border violations like this are unacceptable. If that means firing at any Iranian who steps one foot inside Iraqi territory, then so be it, if it means using diplomacy...nah I prefer using force.

I do not care whether the PKK is a terrorist organization or not, I care about the fact that Iran is using Iraq as a battle ground to fight them. You do not send your armed forces into a sovereign country uninvited like you are simply having a walk in the park...That is an insult to Iraq.

Iraqi MOI

The new Interior Minister of Iraq is going to be chosen from a short-list of 3 nominees from the independent politicians in the UIA, likewise, the Defence Minister will be chosen from a short-list of 3 nominees from Iraq's Sunni Arab politicians.

The good news is that this rules out any chance of Iraq's MOI going to either Da'wa, SCIRI, or the Sadr Movement. Hopefully its going to be a non-sectarian Shia...one that doesn't put up with Death Squads and units that run secret prisons which (with the help of Iranian agents) terrorize the local population.

Within the next few days, I think Noori Al-Maliki will announce the cabinet, and its going to be very interesting to see who takes the MoD and MoI, which are the most important seats on the cabinet (aside from PM of course).