Blogging the democratic revolution
The al-Mada newspaper on June 30 published what is apparently a draft version of the equivalent to the Bill Of Rights that is being worked on by a subcommittee in the Iraqi legislature. Omar from Iraq The Model first reported this on that day and provided his commentary on the document, but ultimately it was…
I normally don’t comment on the media, but this bit from the AP is egregious: But in a development that could affect efforts to get Shiites and Sunnis working together, President Jalal Talabani said Saddam, a Sunni, could be put on trial in the next two months. Hello? Excuse me? As though it’s not a…
As ‘The World’ —- otherwise known to us as self-centered eurotrash — solemnly intones about the depredations of the U.S. over the Saddam underwear photos and the importance of eradicating the US from the earth — by UN vote of course, or better still, EU bureaucratic fiat from Brussels —- Tim Blair advises us that…
The New York Times reports: In a stark reversal from earlier this year, when Sunni Arabs boycotted national elections here, a broad gathering of Sunni sheiks, clerics and political leaders formed a political alliance on Saturday, seeking to win back the political ground they had lost to Shiites. The meeting was the first wide-scale effort…
Somewhat belatedly, this is the link to the Midweek Edition of my Biweekly News Bulletin, which I posted Wednesday night. While not bearing directly on democracy movements, I did come across an amazing article in an Arab newspaper which I have translated in full. The basic store is this: Two Saudi brothers hear about the…
It’s all over for the Islamofascists. They are now lying to their Syrian recruits to get them to drop suicide bombs. Nobody wants to join them. They stand for nothing. Young Sunni Iraqis are rushing to join the building of their new young nation. The heroes are obvious to them. The police, firefighters, army, businesses…
If this is true, it certainly won’t help the effort in Iraq. However, take care with reading what the article actually says: WASHINGTON – U.S. civilian authorities in Iraq cannot properly account for nearly $100 million that was supposed to have been spent on reconstruction projects in south-central Iraq, government investigators said Wednesday. There are…
The two major developments in Iraq over this past week have been (1) the formation of Iraq’s first democratically elected government and (2) the reaction of the terrorist opposition, which has expressed its views by a string of bloody attacks. I’m sure you have read enough of these things elsewhere, so I decided not to…
Arthur Chrenkoff can go ahead and put this one under good news from Iraq. Almost three months after the elections in January, Iraq’s National Assembly voted overwhelmingly Thursday to approve a Shiite-led cabinet, establishing the first elected government in Iraqi history. The assembly chamber burst into wild applause after a show of hands revealed that…
Always a favorite of mine, Chrenkoff has his 25th installment of good news up!
As accorded by the deal struck between the main Shiite coalition and the Kurdish Alliance, a Shiite has been elected Prime Minister. This is the post with the task of forming and managing the government, while the presidential role is mostly ceremonial. Iraq’s newly appointed presidential council yesterday chose Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shia, as prime…
Over at IEDs I have a post reporting the Jalal Talabani has finally been chosen Iraq’s new interim president after weeks of negotitations. With all that has been going on around the world, it’s a good idea to stop and remember how all of this revolution got started. There may still be some who don’t…
Through two months of bold and sometimes bitter negotiations, pluralism wins through and Iraq has a speaker for parliament. BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi politicians chose a Sunni Arab tobe the speaker of parliament on Sunday, ending a politicalimpasse and taking a decisive step toward forming a governmentnine weeks after historic elections. In a ballot, the…
Arthur Chrenkoff has a special roundup of recent events in the Middle East that he has dubbed the “Pro-Democracy Edition.” And in that respect, you should definitely check it out. For an older post in this same regards, check here if you haven’t seen it already.
Last Monday Publius posted an entry on Iraqi protests against Jordan following reports that Jordanians celebrated a terrorist attack which killed 125 Iraqis because the bomber was Jordanian, and then a Jordanian newspaper spun the event positively (see Bad Journalism Causes Iraqi Outrage). From what I saw on Al-Jazeera about an hour ago, a week…
Husayn from Democracy in Iraq (is here!) has written a lengthy post relaying his thoughts on this important anniversary. Two years is about 730 days. In those days what have I seen. My eyes have seen more than I had ever hoped, more blood, more death and more pain, then I ever imagined or hoped…
Tomorrow will mark the second anniversary of Operation: Iraqi Freedom. Glenn over at Instapundit said it, I think, better than anyone. WAR CRITICS want to mark the anniversary of the war — there will be an “antiwar protest” at my local mall tomorrow and there are all sorts of events planned worldwide — but a…
This is good to hear, especially after this report by Omar that talks between the United Iraqi Coalition and the Kurdish Alliance melted down on the 13th. NewsBAGHDAD/ARBIL (Reuters) – Talks between Kurdish leaders and a Shi’ite bloc to form the next Iraqi government have collapsed three days before the country’s first fully elected parliament…
I thought this was incredibly timely given that Kirk had just posted a piece on Jordanian civil society. Natasha Tynes is reporting on an unreported story in the mainstream press that I’m finding particularly interesting. You may all remember a few thousand Iraqis protesting against the insurgents when a car bomber blew up a couple…
Now this is news! Except that you have to wade through paragraph upon paragraph of details about bombings and missing people to see it. The writers at the AP really need to stay on focus before. Like I was taught in elementary school, “Opening, support, closing.” You’ll see from the article that their’s is more…
Another crazy report, just like a lot of the bunk charges that come out of Human Rights Watch. Great name, great mission. Terrible follow through. LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Nearly two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, women there are no better off than under the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, the…
Winfield Myers emailed me to let me know about this post of his on Democracy Project. Harvard will be paying for six Iraqis to attend its institution for the weekend. A fantastic idea, in theory, until the curriculum became available: Getting full exposure to the typically busy life of a Harvard student, the Iraqi visitors…
Ali has posted an incredible piece on the Iraq elections, doing the math for all of the parties and such but makes a very notable observation: One of my neighbors received his family’s ballot with his father’s name included even though he died a year ago. Under reporting of deaths was not that uncommon but…
Look at this map, it shows which parties won which regions in Iraq. President Bush won’t be pleased that it’s half blue!