Iraqi government to back withdrawl ?

[Kytro]

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Majority of Iraqi Lawmakers Now Reject Occupation

On Tuesday, without note in the U.S. media, more than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country. 144 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal, according to Nassar Al-Rubaie, a spokesman for the Al Sadr movement, the nationalist Shia group that sponsored the petition.

It's a hugely significant development. Lawmakers demanding an end to the occupation now have the upper hand in the Iraqi legislature for the first time; previous attempts at a similar resolution fell just short of the 138 votes needed to pass (there are 275 members of the Iraqi parliament, but many have fled the country's civil conflict, and at times it's been difficult to arrive at a quorum).

Reached by phone in Baghdad on Tuesday, Al-Rubaie said that he would present the petition, which is nonbinding, to the speaker of the Iraqi parliament and demand that a binding measure be put to a vote. Under Iraqi law, the speaker must present a resolution that's called for by a majority of lawmakers, but there are significant loopholes and what will happen next is unclear.

I am not sure of the accuracy of the news source. Although if it comes to a binding measure, should the US set a timetable as requested ?

I don't see that the US has much choice if they want to maintain they have Iraqi government cooperation.

[RMNIXON]

If they can get an actual majority Vote I would say yes, we must comply. But when you are talking about a nonbinding petition being shoved in your face by "the Al Sadr movement" I wonder how realistic the signing was? They obviously all want us out. It is a question of doing it when the government can remain stable.

[Kytro]

Although this was non-binding it they did get a majority. I am not sure by what means they got the signatures.

Further down in the article:

But public opinion is squarely with Iraq's nationalists. According to a poll by the University of Maryland's Project on International Public Policy Attitudes, majorities of all three of Iraq's major ethno-sectarian groups support a unified Iraq with a strong central government. For at least two years, poll after poll has shown that large majorities of Iraqis of all ethnicities and sects want the United States to set a timeline for withdrawal, even though (in the case of Baghdad residents), they expect the security situation to deteriorate in the short term as a result.

[kinggovernor]

of course al sadr wants us out of their

[Kytro]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

of course al sadr wants us out of their

He has support of > 50% of the government?

[Thorgrim]

Al Sadr controls the Shia that gives the government votes more than anyone else, next election he'll pick up many more seats, Shia across Iraq link themselves to the Mahdi Army or Moqtada

People don't understand how powerful he is...

The only reason he isn't running the country is because he still has a quasi-deal with Maliki and since he's becoming more popular everyday he doesn't see a need to rush things, he's only in his 30s, he has decades to rule Iraq

[DosEquis]

The prime minister said today that he believes US soldiers need to be there 1 to 2 more years.

Way to give the enemy a time table!

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by DosEquis

The prime minister said today that he believes US soldiers need to be there 1 to 2 more years.

Way to give the enemy a time table!

What he really means is:

We need 1-2 years to train our militias enough to wipe out the sunnis, and we need you wearing down the insurgents so they're ripe for the picking as we install our new Mahdi government that will fund terrorists

We took a contained problem under strict UN inspections in 2003 and now we're giving money to a government that's going to train terrorists that will kill Americans (actually it already has)

Basically Bush, Republicans and anyone who supported this war helped fund terrorists that killed and will kill Americans, fortunately for some thats short of treason