Today the Iraqi Parliament met and the hopes were that a new government would be formed following April 30th's parliamentary elections. That was the hope.
That was also the hope July 1st, the first time the Parliament met.
As Americans learned in 2009 (and 2010, and 2011, and 2012, and 2013 and 2014) there is hope and then there is reality.
All Iraq News notes some members of the Kurdistan Alliance, those hoping to arrive in Baghdad this morning by flying in, did not attend due to a dust storm at Erbil International Airport. National Iraqi News Agency reports that 233 MPs did manage to attend today's session. (That's 233 out of 328 elected.)
But the session that quickly started also quickly ended. NINA notes acting Speaker of Parliament Mehdi al-Hafez announced the end of the session and that the Parliament would meet next on Tuesday.
The monkey wrench tossed into the proceedings?
Nouri al-Maliki.
Even trying to sugar coat it here -- AP notes destructive Nouri.
The two-term prime minister and thug made his support for the candidacy of Salim al-Jubouri (nominated by the Sunnis to be Speaker of Parliament) conditional upon the Sunnis backing Nouri (whom they loathe for good reason) for a third term of Prime Minister. Outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq (a Sunni) told AP, "This will not happen as we do not accept that."
When the offer was refused, the session fell apart. All Iraq News noted that Sadr MP Baha al-Araji even took to nominating Nouri for the post of Speaker of Parliament -- presumably in an attempt to prevent a third term as prime minister for Nouri.
Prior to the session starting, the House of Representatives had been used for another meeting, one called by Iraq National Alliance head Ibrahim al-Jaafari. All Iraq News notes the meeting was to address the issue of the three presidencies (Speaker of Parliament, Prime Minister and President). Alsumaria reports that the meeting ended with no resolution. Nouri apparently rebuffed efforts to work on a scenario where he didn't get a third term as prime minister.
While Nouri moved to block al-Jubouri's nomination to be Speaker of Parliament, NINA notes that Ibraihm al-Jaafari's National Alliance had already agree to back al-Jubouri for the post.
In their write up, AP refers to a sense of urgency.
What sense of urgency?
How about AP's sense of stupidity?
The formation of the government was supposed to have begun May 30th.
It's July 13th, stop kidding about a sense of urgency.
More importantly, this is how thug Nouri wins.
His strategy is not new.
He attempts to derail a process, to out wait his opponents and, by doing so, he exhausts everyone's patience and, instead of standing firm, everyone plays the indulgent parent who spoils the brat by giving in instead of teaching him the needed lesson that he needs to learn to play well with others and that he won't always get his way.
Nouri is a thug. He's run secret prisons where Iraqis have been tortured, assaulted and raped.
Nouri is a War Criminal. Since the start of the year, he has daily punished the Sunnis in Falluja by bombing residential neighborhoods (collective punishment which is a legally defined War Crime recognized as such by most governments included the United States of America).
It's been a few a day killed and wounded and slowly the numbers have climbed. As noted in Thursday's Iraq snapshot:
On the topic of tyrant Nouri, NINA reports
Falluja General Hospital released numbers today on the dead and injured
from Nouri's bombings of Falluja's residential neighborhoods (which is
legally defined as a War Crime). Since January 1st, Nouri has killed
542 civilians in Falluja and injured 1880 more.
Yet, Nouri keeps getting more bombs and missiles from the US government
-- in violation of treaties, laws and the Leahy Amendment.
After the hospital's announcement, another of Nouri's bombings killed 3 civilians in Falluja and left four more injured.
Nouri is the problem and Nouri needs to go.
As the Kurdistan Regional Government noted in a statement they issued last week, "You must apologize to the Iraqi people and step
down. You have destroyed the country and someone who has destroyed the
country cannot save the country from crises."
The problem can not fix itself, Nouri has had two terms, eight years, to attempt that.
He has only made things worse.
The story of his second term is the story of his destroying the fabric of the country with his actions and words.
His War Crimes are destroying Iraq. Friday, Al Mada reported that Nouri's bombing of residential neighborhoods in Falluja is
increasing -- to the point that people are having to bury their loved
ones (killed by these bombings) in local parks, public squares or keep
the remains in their freezer while they wait for some form of security
or peace to return.
The only political solution Nouri can contribute is offering his resignation.