Iraq's parliament turns into "circus"

Iraqi state television aired a controversial parliament session from Wednesday today after Sadrists accused the foreign minister's guards of manhandling Ahmed Massoudi, a Sadrist parliament member.

The session on Wednesday was to conduct the second reading of a contested law that would pass or reject a security agreement between the United States and Iraq. The agreement, which passed the cabinet on Sunday, was met with strong opposition from both Sadrist and Sunni legislators. Before it can be implemented  and replace a United Nations mandate, which legalizes the  U.S. led occupation of Iraq until the end of the year, the parliament must pass it with a simple majority.

Now that I've explained the basic boring ins and outs of the situation lets get to the fun stuff. The session made for great television a la Jerry Springer without the baby mamas or illicit affairs. Sadrists, as followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr are collectively called, demanded a new law of agreements before considering the long-term security agreement with the United States. Basically they want a law on how Iraq should handle international agreements.

 Mahmoud al Mashhadani, the speaker of the parliament, ignored the requests and said they needed to move onto the second reading of the law which parliament would need to pass by the end of the year to implement the agreement. That's when things went south.

Sadrists stood waving their hands in the air and banging binders on the desk. Hassan Sneid, a member of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's party, tried to read the law over the banging and yelling before leaning back in his chair and throwing his arms up in surrender.

He was rendered silent by the uproar and Mashhadani yelled like an overwhelmed teacher unsure how to control his classroom. Parliament members smirked in their seats as women in long black Abayas, the traditional modest dress of religious Muslim women, banged on their desks and yelled

Then the brawl began. Massoudi, one of the Sadrist members, bum-rushed the podium aiming for where the Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Finance Minister Bayan Jaber and Sneid were seated. A guard got in the way and pushed Massoudi out of the way. Other legislators followed, crowding around the podiums yelling and surrounding the speaker and his deputies.

An army of personal guards surrounded Mashhadani and his two deputies and Zebari was rushed out by his guards with what seemed to be a smirk on his face.  After Zebari, Sneid and Jabr left Massoudi swept the plastic flowers, papers and tissue boxes from the table with a few crazed swoops of his arms.

Mashhadani just stood there in the center of the crowd yelling as others yelled louder. First he demanded a recess of one hour then he gave up, encircled by angry legislators. For a few seconds his mouth gaped open.

"Ahhhhhh," he yelled. "Wait! Wait! we'll resume tomorrow at 10 a.m."

He gave a dismissive wave of his hand and his men maneuvered him out of the angry crowd.

The finale of the session was by far the most entertaining. A female Sadrist member shrouded in black walked up to the speakers podium and threw water bottles, notebooks and papers from the desk.

On Thursday the Sadrists banged their binders again but the second reading happened. Entertaining battles or not the parliament must decide by Monday whether or not to reject or agree to the security agreement.

Minorities, the victim of the powers that be?

The Iraqi Presidency Council ratified an amendment to the provincial council law that gives a quota of six seats to minority communities during the upcoming provincial elections in various provinces. Christians get one seat in Nineveh province, another in Baghdad and another in the oil rich province of Basra. Three other minority communities Yazidis, Shabak and Sabeans were each given a provincial seat.

The news was received by Christian leaders as an "insult." The original provincial elections law was passed after a section guaranteeing minorities a quota of representation was struck from the legislation. After nationwide protests from minority communities the parliament chose to pass a version of the law that gave minorities the least amount of representation. A United Nations proposal gave minorities double the number of seats.

Minorities drafted a letter to the presidency council asking them to reject the amendment. But they ratified the amendment today despite objections.

"The most important point is that after all these deliberations the right of the minorities to fix their seats has become a standing right," the council's spokesman Nasir al Ani said.

Screwing the minorities seems to be the order of the day so that the powerful become more powerful. Arab and Islamic parties banned together to pass the law because they worried that giving minorities would help Kurdish expansion. Arab nationalists fear the expansion of the Kurdish region and the ultimate secession of the Kurdish north. Currently the Kurds control the local government in the mostly northern Sunni Arab province of Nineveh.

If Christians received three seats, Yazidis, a religious minority, got one seat and the Shabak, an ethnic minority, got one seat Arabs  believed that  Kurds would use minority seats as an extension of their own parties in the upcoming elections. 

Yonadam Kanna, a Christian lawmaker and Iraqi nationalist, called this a grave mistake and said it showed Christians who "were against them." They may boycott the elections but really what does that do?

Does a New American President Change Iraq?

In Iraq people's fate are tied to the fate of America. The decisions the next president will make about U.S. troop levels and U.S. dollars being spent in Iraq will trickle down to those who live in Fallujah, Najaf, Baghdad and beyond.

A long term security agreement known as the Status of Forces Agreement has been rife with tense negotiations. The final product may fall to the next administration. Already Iraqis are now calling it the "withdrawal agreement."

Many Iraqis tell me that America broke this country and it is still shattered. When they look at their lives they see the lack of electricity, the corruption, the lack of clean water and much more. Security has improved but everything here is tenuous and violence, which has dropped but not disappeared, may come back.

Some Iraqis want Americans to leave but are afraid of what happens next, others want Americans to stay until the mess is cleaned up. But most agree that a new president in the United States doesn't necessarily mean that change in their life will come.

Below are thoughts of Iraqis on this election day:

"I care so much about the American elections because the future of Iraq depends on them. I wish that Obama wins because if he wins he will withdraw the American forces from Iraq. I'm waiting, God willing Obama will win."  -- Nahla al Adhamee, 45, a Sunni Arab university lecturer at the University of Irbil in the northern region of Kurdistan.

"I feel sick of politics because the American policy will never change no matter who's president. The only thing I care about is the SOFA and I hope it is not signed because the Americans will steal all of Iraq." -- Haider al Azzawi, 38, a Shiite Arab taxi driver in eastern Baghdad

"The whole world cares about this...I expect Obama will win but I do not care about them only if Obama fulfills his promise to withdraw the American troops from Iraq and we get rid of this ugly occupation." -- Ibrahim al Azzawi, 40, a Sunni Arab mechanic in southeast Baghdad

"The American elections have no importance to me at all. Their presidency is one thing and their policy is another, therefore there is no real difference who wins. American foreign policy is constant. Iraqis are not ignorant, we have seen this over the years; one president goes and another comes and he does nothing to remedy his predecessor's mistakes only what concerns the American people. As for people in other countries they don't count because they don't vote." -- Aqeel Mohammed, 37, a Shiite minibus driver from southern Baghdad 

"What possible change can either of them bring? And if they do anything, it is only to the interests of their own country – not for our sake. They might "bring their boys home" and "stop spending their money in Iraq" and "let Iraqis shoulder their own responsibilities"…. Where are we in all this?

Maybe Obama would withdraw their forces – but is that good? I would be happy to see them go – but I am also afraid.

What they do, they do for themselves. -- Widad Hamid, 74, a Sunni Arab retired high school teacher from western Baghdad.

"We do follow the news, but I don't expect any change at all. I have no faith in their promises because they say only what they think the American people want to hear. They dissemble their own people – not others. They don't care about the Iraqi people. It's all about their security freedoms, their boys, their money and their democracy. American foreign policy is one line, presidents come and go." -- Khalid Abu Abdullah, a Sunni Arab shopowner from northern Baghdad

"The residents of Sadr city don't car about the American presidential election, now we care only about the blocked roads and the traffic jams...I don't think the American policy will change towards our country," -- Khaleel Abu Ahmad, 37, a Shiite engineer from the east Baghdad district of Sadr City. 

"I care about the lack of electricity and fuel, why should I care about the American elections?" -- Ammar, 30, a Shiite Arab from Baghdad.