Iraq Wants Interpol To Arrest it's Former Vice President

International Alert Issued For Fugitive Iraqi Vice President -- CNN

Istanbul (CNN) -- Interpol on Tuesday issued a "red notice" for Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, who is suspected of guiding and financing terrorist attacks in the country.

The red notice for al-Hashimi "represents a regional (and) international alert to all of Interpol's 190 member countries to seek their help in locating and arresting him, following the issue of a national arrest warrant by Iraq's Judicial Investigative Authority as part of an investigation in which security forces seized bombing materials and arrested individuals," the international police organization said in a statement.

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More News On The Interpol Arrest Warrant For Former Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi

Iraq's Tariq al-Hashemi faces Interpol arrest notice -- BBC
At Baghdad’s request, Interpol issues ‘red notice’ for Iraq’s fugitive Sunni vice president -- Washington Post/AP
Interpol calls for Iraq vice-president Hashemi's arrest -- Reuters
Turkey won't deport Iraq's al-Hashemi -- Deutsche Welle
Turkey: No plans to extradite Iraqi VP -- AP
Turkey 'refuses to extradite Iraqi vice-president' -- AFP
Iraq's Hashemi to stay in Turkey -- UPI

Iraq's Political Feuds Impacting Any Future U.S. Agreement To Have Some American Troops Stay Next Year

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, left, and his chief rival, Ayad Allawi, right, in Parliament last November. Their rift has grown worse since then. Reuters

Bitter Feud Between Top Iraqi Leaders Stalls Government -- New York Times

BAGHDAD — Fifteen months after an election that was supposed to lay the groundwork for Iraq’s future, the government remains virtually paralyzed by a clash between the country’s two most powerful politicians, who refuse to speak to each other.

The paralysis is contributing to a rise in violence, and it is severely complicating negotiations on the most difficult and divisive question hanging over the country: Whether to ask the United States to keep a contingency force here after the scheduled withdrawal of American troops at the end of the year. The longer the deadlock persists, the harder it becomes for the American military to reverse or slow the withdrawal of the roughly 48,000 troops, the pace of which will pick up over the next few months.

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My Comment: Elections have consequences, and you will always end up with the government that you deserve. For the Iraqis .... they are certainly learning that lesson now. As for U.S. concerns, the withdrawal is actually moving at a snail's pace, waiting for the Iraqi government to get it's act together .... but if it does not by the end of the summer, I expect everything to accelerate and thereby putting more pressure on Baghdad to reach some sort of compromise.

Iraqi Leaders Reach An Agreement To Form A Government

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (L) meets with Iraq's former Prime Minister and head of the Iraqiya coalition Iyad Allawi (R) in Baghdad in this June 29, 2010 file photo. Credit: Reuters/Mohammed Ameen

Iraqi Leaders Reach Agreement On New Government -- L.A. Times

Incumbent Nouri Maliki appears headed to a second term as prime minister after his main rival, Iyad Allawi, accepts his terms for limited power-sharing. The deal will end an eight-month impasse.

Reporting from Baghdad — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki appeared to lock up a second term in office Wednesday after a lengthy closed-door meeting of Iraq's political elite in which foes buckled to his demands for ending a dangerous eight-month impasse and forming a new government.

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More News On Iraqi Leaders Agreeing To Form A New Government

Iraqi parliament meets to choose key govt posts -- Yahoo News/AP
Iraq's new govt to include Sunni-backed bloc -- Yahoo News/Reuters
Iraq parties reach deal on Maliki-led government -- BBC
Power-sharing deal reached in Iraq -- Al Jazeera
Iraq Inches Toward Government -- Wall Street Journal
Iraq rivals seal power-sharing deal -- Yahoo News/AFP
Iraqi leaders reach political deal; Maliki to remain as prime minister -- Washington Post
Iraqis reach power-sharing pact -- Financial Times
Finally! Iraqis Agree to Form Government Eight Months After Election -- ABC News
Iraqi official: leaders have framework to form new government -- Christian Science Monitor
Kurd Leader Welcomes Deal On New Iraqi Government -- CBS News
Barack Obama urges Ayad Allawi to join coalition Iraq government -- The Guardian
New Iraq government will please Iran not US -- Sydney Morning Herald
Factbox: Five facts about Iraq's Iyad Allawi -- Reuters
Factbox: Five facts about Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki -- Reuters
Profile: Nouri al-Maliki -- BBC

No Change In Iraq's Election Totals After Recount

Recount in Iraq Preserves Victory for Maliki Rival -- New York Times

BAGHDAD — A dispute over the counting of ballots in Iraq’s parliamentary elections in March came to a tentative end on Sunday, with the country’s election commission saying that a partial recount had preserved the narrow victory of the leading rival to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

The announcement removed a stumbling block in the long-delayed process of forming a new government that will preside over Iraq as the American military withdraws. With the recount over, the country’s highest court can begin ratifying the results, a crucial step in opening the way for negotiations over the next prime minister.

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More News On Iraq's Election Recount

Iraq recount fails to overturn Allawi election win -- Reuters
Baghdad election results upheld by election commission -- BBC
Result unchanged after Iraq recount -- Al Jazeera
Iraqi PM fails to gain seats but on track for power -- AFP
Baghdad Vote Result Unchanged After Recount -- Voice of America
Iraq elections results stand in recount -- UPI
Patience Coming To A Middle -- Strategy Page
FACTBOX - Deadlines, steps in Iraq's crawl towards a government -- Reuters

Iraq's Election Mess Continues

Iyad Allawi, leader of the secular Al-Iraqiyah coalition, said legal challenges also would be addressed directly to the United Nations, because of what he called the politicization of legal rulings within Iraq. Photo from Radio Free Europe

Iraq Delays Ruling On Election Candidate Ban -- Washington Post/Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A potentially divisive ruling by an Iraqi review panel on whether to wipe out the votes of nine winning candidates from last month's election has been delayed, possibly until next week, officials said on Tuesday.

On Monday, the panel threw the Iraqi political process into turmoil after invalidating votes cast for 52 other candidates in the March 7 ballot, which produced no outright winner and left the country adrift in a political vacuum.

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More News On Iraq's Election Confusion

Election Ruling in Iraq Favors Prime Minister -- New York Times
Iraq election chaos as 52 candidates are disqualified -- The Guardian
Iraqi panel voids candidacies of 52 substitutes in March vote -- L.A. Times
Alleged Baath ties disqualify candidates from Iraqi elections -- CNN
Disqualification of Iraqi MPs jeopardises political stability -- The Independent
Political crisis worsens in Iraq as court disqualifies 52 candidates -- Indian Express
U.S. ambassador says Iraq must act faster in establishing a new government -- Washington Post
U.S. worried over Iraq's failure to resolve election impasse -- McClatchy News
Iraqi Bloc Plans Response To Candidates' Disqualification -- Radio Free Europe

Recounting The Vote In Iraq

An employee of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) aligns boxes containing the special parliamentary ballots, at a counting center in Baghdad, March 8, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Thaier Al-Sudani

Iraqi Election Panel Orders Baghdad Recount -- Voice of America

An Iraqi election panel has ordered a manual recount of votes cast in Baghdad during last month's parliamentary election, following an appeal from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The recount could change the outcome of the tightly contested March 7 election, since Baghdad accounts for nearly a fifth of Iraq's 325-seat parliament.

Mr. Maliki's coalition came in a close second, just behind the secular party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

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More News On Iraq

Iraqi Court Sets Partial Recount in Tight Election -- New York Times
Iraq agrees to recount votes in Baghdad -- Washington Post
Iraq judicial panel orders recount -- L.A. Times
Vote recount double-bladed sword for Iraq to end political deadlock -- China View
Iraq faces manual vote recount -- UPI
Leading coalition in Iraq election backs recount -- Reuters
Allawi fears Baghdad vote recount irregularities -- Middle East Online
Iraq election: Can Maliki win with a Baghdad recount? -- Christian Science Monitor
Baghdad Recount Could Change Election Results, Raising Fears Of Violence -- Radio Free Europe

My Comment: If this is not done right, it has the potential to explode into another cycle of sectarian violence.

Iraq's Election Political Crisis Continues

Former PM Iyad Allawi. Photo from Radio Free Europe

Allawi Fears Vote Impasse May Fuel Chaos In Iraq -- L.A. Times

Allawi says Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's refusal to accept the election results, which give Allawi's bloc a 2-seat edge in parliament, could provoke violence.

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya alliance edged out Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's party in national elections last month, Thursday warned of potential chaos and violence if he is denied the right to form the country's next government.

Allawi said Maliki and his supporters' refusal to accept final election results, in which Allawi's bloc won 91 seats in parliament versus 89 for Maliki's State of Law alliance, could provoke bloodshed among the Iraqi people.

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My Comment: Allawi is openly stating what many in Iraq are now voicing .... political instability will inevitably result in civil conflict and the potential for civil war. But while this is being openly discussed and publicized, U.S. military leaders and the White House have been "surprisingly" silent.

Iraq's Election Uncertainty Continues

Empowered Sadrists Organize New Ballot in Iraq -- New York Times

BAGHDAD — Followers of Moktada al-Sadr, the militant cleric whose militia was a major force in the Shiite insurgency against American forces, announced Wednesday that they were arranging a special vote to pick Iraq’s next prime minister.

Mr. Sadr, who has been living in Iran, released a statement through his political office in Iraq that called for putting the “choice of prime minister into the hands of the Iraqi public through a referendum for all Iraqi people.”

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More News On Iraq's Election

Al-Sadr asks backers for input on future Iraq PM -- AP
Sadrists plan referendum on PM candidate -- Press TV
Iraq PM appeals poll results, Sadr plans referendum -- Reuters
Mounting obstacles block efforts to form new Iraq government -- AFP
Iraqi PM: Not trying to change election outcome -- AP
Iraq's Election: Can This Deadlock Be Broken? -- Time Magazine

Ayad Allawi, Iraq's Next Prime Minister .... Maybe

Ayad Allawi spoke of being viciously attacked in his bedroom in 1978 in London, where he was in exile after breaking with Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. Joao Silva for The New York Times

Iraqi Ex-Premier Looks To Past In Fighting Critics -- New York Times

BAGHDAD — Ayad Allawi has seldom spoken publicly about the night more than 30 years ago when a pair of ax-wielding assassins turned his London bedroom into an abattoir.

Now, determined to counter charges by his political enemies that he won Iraq’s national elections by appealing to Baathists, and locked in a struggle with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to assemble a government, he offered up that story in the middle of an interview on Monday.

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My Comment: It is interesting to see what is happening in Iraq today. A Shiite dominated government is using the law to ban Allawi Sunni candidates because of past Baathist connections .... even though in the past Allawi was on a Baathist death list.

If successful, this will seriously undermine the Iraqi political process, and any government that PM Maliki may cobble together. The key is for both Ayad Allawi and PM Maliki to work together .... but from what I am seeing .... this cooperation is nowhere on the horizon.