Thursday, March 20, 2008

Elections coming!!

By ERICA GOODE and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
Published: March 20, 2008

BAGHDAD — A member of Iraq’s Presidency Council, whose objections had blocked a law calling for provincial elections by October, withdrew his objections on Wednesday in a sudden turnaround that raised hopes for long-sought political progress.

The Presidency Council, in a statement, said the law would now go into effect.

The legislation, passed with great fanfare in early February, was rejected by the council on Feb. 27 and sent back to Parliament after Vice President Adel Abdul Mehdi said it was unconstitutional. President Jalal Talabani and Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi also sit on the three-member council.

Mr. Mehdi’s reversal came two days after he met with Vice President Dick Cheney, who was in Iraq. In the view of American officials, the law, which was intended in part to correct electoral distortions that had given Kurds and Shiites disproportionate power in some regions dominated by Sunni Arabs, could in theory help defuse the power of the Sunni insurgency. Local council members were chosen in elections largely boycotted by Sunni Arabs.
The rest of this story can be found right here.
It seems that Vice President Cheney might have used a little pressure, if so, IT'S ABOUT TIME!!

7 comments:

RhusLancia said...

I wonder if Cheney offered to go "duck hunting" with them ??

Average American said...

Could be, that would do it!!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Anonymous said...

"It seems that Vice President Cheney might have used a little pressure"

You have me in your corner on that!

The Griper said...

i hope it wasn't pressure that resulted in this decision. the Iraqis need to make their own decisions without outside pressure. now, if by pressure one means presenting a good convincing argument that is fine, but pressure as the word implies, i don't go along with.

Tapline said...

Seems like they are working faster than the US Senate to accomplish what needs to be done....stay well

MathewK said...

Perhaps Cheney told them that a Democrat has a good chance at taking the white house, nothing sobers you up like knowing lefties are closer to getting the knife with which they can quietly stab you in the back with.

And another plus is that the Democrats will have to come up with another excuse to screw over the troops and Iraq and aid the terrorists. Has anyone told them the bad news? Never mind, it's not like they can ever see anything good out of it anyway.

Average American said...

As slow as the Iraqi politicians are at fixing things, I guess they use lightening speed compared to our early days. I just get frustrated sitting here knowing the answers and not being able to do anything to help. The Iraqis have to do it by and for themselves.