Reasons 1 through 4 on why we need to leave Iraq

And it isn't so we can attack Iran.

Lawrence J. Korb of the Boston Globe:

First, Maliki knows that if the United States does not set a withdrawal date, the status of forces agreement, or even a memorandum of understanding, will not be approved by the Iraqi Parliament. A majority of the Iraqi Parliament has signed a letter to that effect. Iraq's elected legislators know that the overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people want the American forces out and believe that these foreign forces are actually causing much of the violence. The American people agree that the United States should have never invaded and want US forces to leave as quickly as possible. But, since Bush will not submit the agreement to Congress, he can ignore the wishes of the American people.

Second, there were not that many foreign terrorists to begin with. Despite the administration's claim that we are fighting them (Al Qaeda) over there (in Iraq) so we do not have to fight them over here (the United States), the number of Al Qaeda loyalists who came into the country after the US invasion never numbered more than 2,000. Moreover, Al Qaeda in Iraq is an overwhelmingly Iraqi organization with domestic aims. When members began killing Iraqis and tried to force a rigid version of Islam on their Iraqi collaborators, the Iraqis turned on them.

Once the United States sets a date for a complete withdrawal, Al Qaeda in Iraq will lose what little support it has from the Iraqi people.

Third, with the rising price of oil, Iraq is awash in money and no longer needs US assistance to rebuild its war-torn infrastructure. When the United States invaded, oil was $25 a barrel. Now it is about $130. The Iraqi government now produces 2.5 million barrels a day, and with the contracts it has recently signed with Western companies, it soon will begin producing even more. This means that the Iraqis will be bringing in $100 billion to $200 billion a year.

Fourth, the Shi'ite dominated Iraqi government is not as concerned about the threat from Iran as the Bush administration. Many of Iraq's Shi'ite leaders lived in Iran during the regime of Saddam Hussein and see the Iranians as Shi'ite allies with whom they can and should have a close relationship - unlike Bush who sees the Iranians as the second coming of Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia.

Time to leave. Even al-Maliki agrees (and Der Speigel stands by its quote):

In the interview, Maliki expressed support of Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. "That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of changes."

Maliki was quick to back away from an outright endorsement of Obama, saying "who they choose as their president is the Americans' business." But he then went on to say: "But it's the business of Iraqis to say what they want. And that's where the people and the government are in general agreement: The tenure of the coalition troops in Iraq should be limited."

A Baghdad government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said in a statement that SPIEGEL had "misunderstood and mistranslated" the Iraqi prime minister, but didn't point to where the misunderstanding or mistranslation might have occurred. Al-Dabbagh said Maliki's comments "should not be understood as support to any US presidential candidates." The statement was sent out by the press desk of the US-led Multinational Force in Iraq.

A number of media outlets likewise professed to being confused by the statement from Maliki's office. The New York Times pointed out that al-Dabbagh's statement "did not address a specific error." CBS likewise expressed disbelief pointing out that Maliki mentions a timeframe for withdrawal three times in the interview and then asks, "how likely is it that SPIEGEL mistranslated three separate comments? Matthew Yglesias, a blogger for the Atlantic Monthly, was astonished by "how little effort was made" to make the Baghdad denial convincing. And the influential blog IraqSlogger also pointed out the lack of specifics in the government statement.

SPIEGEL sticks to its version of the conversation.

Good.

How strange... even the Iraqis want accountability

And recognize the illegality of this occupation:

WASHINGTON - The end of 2007 produced a telltale indication of what the New Year seems likely to bring to Iraq. "We the Iraqi members of Parliament signing below demand a timetable for withdrawal of the occupation forces [MNF] from our beloved Iraq," 144 members of the 275-member Parliament, a clear majority, wrote in a declaration April 2007.

Despite this, the George W Bush administration and the Iraqi government led by US-installed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pushed a resolution through the UN Security Council to extend by another year the legal cover for foreign troops to operate in Iraq.

The move on December 18 violated both the Iraqi constitution and the resolution passed earlier this year by the Iraqi Parliament.

Many Iraqi lawmakers say that any renewal of the UN mandate not ratified by Parliament is illegal. The move almost guarantees an increase in violence and a deepening of sectarian tensions.

Hmmm. The Iraqis don't seem to realize they are operating under the BUSH democracy plan where he tells them how to vote, they vote, and everybody gets the purple finger....

And all their oil are belong to us.

Sunnis are odd man out

So what do you think they will do with this?

Shia and Kurdish parties form Iraq alliance

Iraqi leaders on Thursday said Shia and Kurdish political parties had formed a new alliance in a bid to help the beleaguered government emerge from its latest crisis.

Hoshyar Zebari, the foreign minister, told the Financial Times that the move was designed to create a core group of parties that would bolster the administration and help it win support in parliament to push through important legislation.

But the main Sunni Arab bloc, which quit the Shia-led government at the beginning of the month, refused to be part of the four-party alliance despite days of consultations, signalling that the crisis was far from over.

Al-Maliki on the edge

Will he be able to keep his job? Or is he already finished? Al-Maliki makes connections with Iran and Turkey:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with officials in Iran on Wednesday to seek help in reining in violence in his country, reaching out to a nation the U.S. accuses of fueling Iraq's turmoil by backing Shiite militants.

It was al-Maliki's second visit to Tehran in less than a year, coming days after U.S. and Iranian experts held talks in Baghdad on improving Iraq's security.

Al-Maliki and the Shiite and Kurdish parties that dominate his government are closely linked to predominantly Shiite Iran, and he has struggled to balance those ties with the United States, Tehran's top rival in the region.

The U.S. has recently stepped up its allegations that Iran is arming Shiite militiamen, but the Iraqi government has taken a low-key stance without outright backing the American claims, which Tehran denies. One al-Maliki adviser, Sami al-Askari, said last month that the government "doesn't rule out" Iranian arming of militants.

[snip]
Before arriving in Iran, al-Maliki traveled to Turkey and agreed to root out a Kurdish rebel group operating from northern Iraq. But he said the Iraqi parliament would have the final say on efforts to halt the guerrillas' cross-border attacks into Turkey. Iran also faces problems with its Kurdish minority near the Iraqi border.

Turkey has threatened to stage an incursion into northern Iraq unless Iraq or the United States cracks down on rebels from the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, that have set up bases there. The envisaged counterterrorism agreement is aimed at forcing Iraq to officially commit itself to fighting the rebels.

Iraq, which like Iran is majority Shiite, has managed a difficult balancing act between Tehran and Washington since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, trying to maintain good relations with its powerful neighbor while not angering the Americans.

The U.S. has accused Iran of providing money and weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq. Iran denies the charges and argues that the presence of U.S. troops is destabilizing the region.

Washington and Tehran have held three rounds of talks on Iraqi security since May, and al-Maliki told AP he would push for these talks to continue at an ambassador level.

Looks like he's making every attempt to keep Iraq together but then:

... Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki - whose days in office are surely numbered - might want to to be remembered as the man who brought democracy and justice to Iraqis; the man who rooted out terrorism and killed al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Instead, Iraqis will remember Maliki as a selfish, sectarian politician who divided the country as never before, between Shi'ites and Sunnis. They will remember the death squads that flourished under his regime, the targeted assassinations of Sunni notables, and they will see him as a stooge of the Americans who was unable to fulfill any of the promises he made when coming to power in May 2006.
Maliki's problem is that his government is not constitutional, as his cabinet no longer represents all parties that are seated in Parliament. Thirteen out of 37 ministers have walked out, and more are likely to follow soon.

The first to abandon him were six Shi'ite ministers from the Sadrist bloc in April. They objected to his relationship with the United States, and his failure to secure a timetable for US troop withdrawal from Iraq. They were followed by Sunni Justice Minister Hashem al-Shibli from the Iraqi List that is headed by former prime minister Iyad Allawi.

This week, five Sunni ministers from the Iraqi Accordance Front stepped down, along with Sunni Salam al-Zoubai, who was deputy prime minister. They claimed this was because Maliki had not responded to any of the 11 demands they had made, which included greater decision-making for Sunnis, and a political amnesty for Sunni prisoners.

Then came the resignation of nine senior officers from the Iraqi Army, including Baker Zebari, the commander-in-chief. All of them were objecting to how the prime minister is running affairs.

After discussing the politicians who are jockeying for position to take al-Maliki's seat, the writer of this article, Sami Moubayed (a Syrian political analyst) goes on to say:

The pro-US Arab states have been very blunt in opposing Maliki, because of his relations with Iran and his well-known animosity toward Sunnis. Recently, they turned down an offer by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to support the Maliki cabinet.

[snip]

One cannot help but recall Maliki's first speech to the Iraqi people, broadcast in April 2006 when he was still prime minister-designate. He said, "Our Sunni brothers, by their participation in a broad alliance, have begun to carry responsibilities in the political process ... which will dry up the sources of terrorism. Fighting the insurgency will be my government's priority." He said he hoped to do so by creating "a white front" of Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds and that he would create a non-sectarian government to ward off accusations made by observers claiming that he was "too Shi'ite".

Maliki then addressed the Sunnis directly by playing down fears that Iran was interfering in Iraqi affairs. He thanked neighboring countries such as Iran for sheltering the Iraqi opposition during Saddam's era, saying, "But this does not mean any country can meddle in our affairs." Gratitude did not mean security interference, he added. Earlier, Maliki had said, "The weapons must be in the hands of the state. Their presence in the hands of others [militias] will be the start of problems that will trigger a civil war."

Rather than collect arms and root out militias, Maliki did the exact opposite. He will leave office amid a civil war - a very ugly one - that is largely due to his own doing.

The more Bush demands the 'Iraqi government' do something, the more it unravels. Heckovajob, Georgie!

Well, they finally stood up

And walked out:

BAGHDAD - Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc announced its withdrawal from the government Wednesday, undermining efforts to seek reconciliation among the country's rival factions, and three bombings in Baghdad killed at least 70 people.

[snip]

The White House on Wednesday downplayed the significance of the Accordance Front's leaving the government. Press secretary Tony Snow said that while it is important for all the political blocs to participate, reconciliation efforts are ongoing. He noted that Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and the minister of defense, both Sunnis, remain in place.

"We're keeping an eye on the situation, but let's keep in mind that it is not a complete withdrawal from the political process," Snow said.

The Accordance Front has 44 of parliament's 275 seats. Its withdrawal from the 14-month-old government is the second such action by a faction of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's "national unity" coalition. Five Cabinet ministers loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr quit the government in April to protest al-Maliki's reluctance to announce a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

Rafaa al-Issawi, a leading member of the Accordance Front, said at a news conference Wednesday that the Sunni bloc's six Cabinet ministers would submit their resignations later in the day.

Al-Issawi said the decision to pull out from the government followed what he called al-Maliki's failure to respond to the Accordance Front. It gave him seven days to meet its demands, and the ultimatum expired Wednesday.

When our politicians blather about making the Iraqi government

Do this or that, stand up, sit down, sign away their national resources; I always ask, "What government?" There never HAS been a functional Iraqi government.

Iraq's largest Sunni parliamentary bloc has announced it is expanding its boycott of cabinet meetings to a full withdrawal from the government.

Salim Abdullah, a spokesman for the National Accordance Front, said it would give Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, a week to meet its demands before taking further action.

Just in time for the summer vacation

Iraq's main Sunni politcal bloc, the National Accordance Front has ended its boycott of the Shia-dominated parliament in a move that could help the passage of laws aimed at promoting national unity.

The 44-member bloc had walked out last month in protest at the removal of Mahmoud Mashhadani, the Sunni speaker of the assembly, after he allegedly set his bodyguards on Fariyad Mohammed, a Shia politician, after an argument between the two outside the parliament hall.

Can you guys stop fighting long enough to sign a few papers? Cheney really wants that Oil Law signed off, you guys. I mean... REALLY...

You say goodbye

When I say hello...

Just what did al-Maliki mean?

"We say in full confidence that we are able, God willing, to take the responsibility completely in running the security file if the international forces withdraw at any time they want," al-Maliki said.

OKAY!! But now... (my bold)

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraq's prime minister was misunderstood when he said the Americans could leave "any time they want" an aide said Sunday, as politicians moved to end a pair of boycotts that are holding up work on crucial political reforms sought by Washington.

Ahhhh... they haven't signed the Oil Law which signs over Iraq's oil to Bush and Cheney yet. Then can we go?

Just a thought... do you think they will sign the law before the August vacation the Iraqi Parliament is taking?

What Bush and Cheney have been waiting for

Is about to come to fruition:

A draft oil law has been submitted to Iraq's parliament after the government and the Iraqi Kurdistan regional authority resolved differences on the sharing of the country's oil reserves, officials have said.

A spokesman for Iraq's oil minister said he expected politicians to begin debating the draft law in the next few days.

"A deal has been reached and the draft has been delivered to parliament to be discussed... in the coming days. An agreement has been reached covering all disputes," Asim Jihad said.

An official in the Kurdish regional government said an agreement had been made, but did not give further details.

[snip]

The draft oil law is crucial in regulating how wealth from Iraq's huge oil reserves will be distributed between sectarian and ethnic groups.

Dividing up the loot....

Cheney can't understand why they can't get that oil law signed

That's really why he's pushing and demanding they not take a vacation. The oil companies are getting anxious:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Vice President Dick Cheney met Wednesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to push al-Maliki's government into adopting U.S.-favored changes before American military commander Gen. David Petraeus must report to Congress on whether the "surge" of American troops has been succeeding.

Cheney pressed Maliki to stop the Iraqi parliament from taking its scheduled two-month summer recess. President Bush made a similar appeal in a videoconference with al-Maliki on Monday.

"I did make it clear that we believe it's very important to move on the issues before us in a timely fashion and that any undue delay would be difficult to explain," Cheney told reporters after his day of back-to-back meetings. "I think they're somewhat sympathetic to our concerns."

[snip]

In his speech Jan. 10 in which he announced the dispatch of tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops to Iraq, Bush said the increase would help provide security so that Iraq's government could resolve critical issues involving oil revenues, deBaathification, and the constitution.

But the parliament has made virtually no progress in those areas. A draft oil law is in committee, and there's been no discussion on easing rules that bar Baathists from serving in government. A report from a committee on proposed changes to Iraq's constitution is due to parliament on Tuesday.

Few here expect the parliament to reach agreement on the issues, even if it stays in session an extra month.

I think the Iraqi Parliament realizes once they sign away their nation's resources to foreign companies, their lives are forfeit. It looks like they are trying to wait Bush and Cheney out.

Giiiiivvvveee iiiiittttt tooooooo meeeeeee:

Update: I posted on this before, why privatization, why the bill is stuck, who benefits.

Update: Michael Schwartz of the Asia Times:

Since the invasion of Iraq, US officials have melded economic and military policy into a single fatal brew, driven by dreams of controlling the country's fabulous potential oil wealth. The key "benchmark", therefore, that the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki must pass is passage of a new oil law forced on it by the Bush administration. Widespread opposition to the law, though, could result in escalating conflict that leaves the oil out of the United States' reach.

Cheney's gonna be pissed

Kurds are going to try and block the Iraq oil law:

Iraq's Kurdish region has said it will try to block a draft oil law in parliament, raising the stakes in a row with the central government.

The Kurdistan autonomous region backed the draft law in February but has disputed annexes to it that would give control of oilfields to a new state-run oil company.

Ashti Hawrami, minister of natural resources in Kurdistan, said: "These annexes are unconstitutional and will not be supported by the Kurdish regional government in the federal parliament."

The Kurdistan autonomous region could be on a collision course with Baghdad over the US-backed draft.

The threat to fight the bill in Iraq's national parliament comes just days after the oil ministry in Baghdad warned regions against signing contracts until the law was passed.

You can't quit! Bush was going to fire you!

Come back here!

Nicole Belle of Crooks and Liars:

Oh yeah, things are just going swimmingly in Iraq, aren't they?

Independent UK:

The nationalist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered his ministers to leave the Iraqi government because of its refusal to set a timetable for US troop withdrawal from Iraq.

A violent confrontation between America and the Sadrist movement, popular among the Shia majority, would mark a new stage in the four-year war in which the US has hitherto been fighting the minority Sunni community.

The departure of the six ministers will weaken the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who relied on the support of their movement for a majority in parliament. The Sadrists accused Mr Maliki of "ignoring the will of the people" over the issue of a timed American withdrawal.

Muqtada al-Sadr has been hiding for two months but in recent weeks has demanded an end to the occupation. He has organised peaceful rallies attended by tens of thousands of demonstrators in Najaf at which Sadr supporters waved Iraqi flags and chanted their opposition to the continuing US presence.

But it's our oil!

I mean... Cheney says so!

WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, wants passage of an oil law stripped from a list of Iraq war funding legislation benchmarks due on the House floor next week.

Kucinich announced Wednesday an amendment to Iraq war supplemental funding legislation that would, in part, set six "performance measures" for the Baghdad government in order to receive more funding from Congress later this year.

"We must remove this benchmark from the supplemental and work to ensure any hydrocarbon law put in place is truly the best interests of all Iraqi people," Kucinich said in a statement.

Measure No. 2 requires the Iraqi government adopt and implement "a law to allow oil revenue to be shared with all citizens of Iraq."

While Iraqi parties previously at odds have recently signed a tentative agreement on governing Iraq's vast hydrocarbons reserves, the deal was reached after heavy pressure by the United States.

Two main political parties, the Iraqi Accordance Front and the Iraqi National Slate, have said they oppose the draft law, which needs to passed by Parliament to take effect. (Other accompanying measures must also be agreed upon, which is not assured, before Parliament votes.)

The Iraq oil unions, which represent tens of thousands of workers, have also opposed the law.

At issue is whether the oil sector, which has been nationalized for decades, should allow foreign companies the same access as Iraqi national oil companies, which the United States has called for.

"The United States should not be requiring Iraq to open their oil fields to private foreign companies as a condition of ending our occupation. The administration's strong push to enact a hydrocarbon law has little to do with the needs of the Iraqi people," Kucinich said.

"Instead it is a concerted effort to ensure that American oil companies are granted access to Iraqi oil fields. By adopting this benchmark in the supplemental, and requiring the enactment of this law by the Iraqi government, Democrats will be instrumental in privatizing Iraqi oil."

How can you run a country when you are hiding in another one?

Especially when the angry citizens who purpled their fingers and endangered their lives to vote for you want to talk to you about you signing away their country's resources to the oil companies?

On the other hand.... it's probably a wise thing....

BAGHDAD, Jan. 24 Iraq's Parliament in Baghdad has all but come to a standstill because of months of high absenteeism and legislators living outside the country, a report said.

Frustrated parliamentary Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashadani has announced members will be fined $400 for each session they miss, and said those who fail to attend a yet-to-be determined minimum number of sessions would be replaced.

Since November, as few as 65 legislators have shown up for sessions, which had to be adjourned for a lack of a quorum in the 275-seat body, the International Herald Tribune reported Wednesday.

Parliamentarians earn salaries and benefits worth about $120,000, and are also given funding for personal security. Mashadani noted former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi lives in London and Amman, Jordan, while another legislator moved to Abu Dhabi.

Monday was the first time since November a quorum of 50 percent plus one was present, with 189 members attending, the newspaper said. It was helped by the return of 30 members loyal to the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who called an end to a two-month political boycott.

So much for standing up so we can stand down....