Iraqi Parliament Meets, At Last
Iraq the Model, of course, has more. Omar:
The session was not more than a ceremonial one and it was limited to gathering and reading the oath and short speeches from the chairman of the former National Assembly and from the eldest member of the new parliament Adnan Pachachi who didn’t set a deadline for the next session but said in a later statement to the press that the next session will commence after the major blocs reach an agreement on the key issues of dispute which are the structure of the three main councils (presidency, premiership and chairmanship of the parliament).
Almost all the statements given by various prominent politicians to the press after the session ended were optimistic and they all spoke about consensus on forming a government of national unity yet some of them admitted that there’s a serious trust issue between the major blocs.
Jafari-and in an earlier time Talabani-expressed their confidence that forming the government will not take more than another month. Jafari also said something that can be regarded as a preparation for an honorable retreat when he said that “if the people asked me to step down, I shall do that”.
But is Jafari really prepared to step down? Edward Wong in the New York Times:
In a press conference afterward, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the current prime minister, who has been nominated by the Shiites to keep his job, said he would step aside if asked to do so. But the Shiites have banded behind him in support, even though the main Sunni Arab parties, the Kurds and secular leaders are insisting on his departure.
Later, in an interview with Iraqiya, the state-financed television network, Mr. Jaafari affirmed his right to the nomination by saying the Shiites had chosen him in a fair vote last month.
Well, a mixed bag, then, but it doesn’t sound like civil war, now, does it? Thank God we have a president determined to see this thing through…
Amen.