By Reidar Visser (www.historiae.org)
7 August 2008

Yesterday’s failure of the Iraqi parliament to pass the provincial elections law before the summer recess may well end up being blamed on Sadrists and other “recalcitrants” who refused to give up their principles and adopt a more “businesslike” attitude. Or, alternatively, as an AP headline puts it today, “Iraqi election bill falls to ethnic rivalry”. However, quite apart from issues related to Islamic radicalism or ethnic identities, first and foremost the parliamentary deliberations of the elections law exposed some of the fundamental weaknesses and contradictions of Pax Americana in Iraq.

It may be useful to briefly recapitulate why there was a desire for provincial elections in Iraq in the first place, and which forces tried to resist this pressure. On the one hand, there was a broad alliance of parties that pushed the elections agenda forward, and insisted on the insertion of a timeline in the legislation that was adopted in February this year. This group featured cross-sectarian cooperation and participation by secularists as well as Islamists, with the key parties being the Sadrists (Shiite Islamist), Fadila (Shiite Islamist), Tawafuq (Sunni Islamist), al-Hiwar al-Watani (Iraqi nationalist, mostly Sunni) and Iraqiyya (nationalist, secular-leaning). Those who opposed the prospect of early elections were primarily the Kurdish parties and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI, Shiite Islamist), with some support from the Daawa party of Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki. The opponents of the elections – who had everything to lose because they gained power in the controversial January 2005 local elections which many Sunni and Shiite parties boycotted – tried to scotch the law by using the presidential veto, but finally changed their position after a visit to Baghdad by US vice president Dick Cheney in March.

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Yaser Wishah, The Kansas City Star, 6 August 2008

This article was originally published by The Kansas City Star and is republished with the author’s permission.

Imagine if Chinese-Americans visiting relatives were prevented by the Chinese government from returning to America. Or if an American traveled to Iran and was then forbidden from reaching an airport to come home.

This happened to me at the hands of Israel, supposedly America’s closest ally in the Middle East.

I am a U.S. citizen and small-business owner in Olathe. I am also a Palestinian born in Gaza. I traveled to Gaza last December to care for my ill father. Israel trapped me there for four months.

Israel controls who and what goes in and out of Gaza. In the past year, it has imposed a near-total siege on Gaza. The 1.5 million Palestinians who live there are held in what many have referred to as the world’s largest open-air prison.

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Today, former Speaker of the House (1995-99) Newt Gingrich delivered a petition with “more than 1.4 million” signatures to the GOP’s ongoing protest that demands legislators put their 5-week vacation on hold and pass an energy bill that permits drilling offshore, in ANWR and wherever “American-made” oil can be tapped.

Are the Republicans so bereft of leadership they must tap the exile pool for one? What’s next for Gingrich now that he’s returned to the fray? A recurring role on MSNBC’s 3-hour McCain commercial, Morning Joe? He and co-confabulating exile from Congress, Joe Scarborough, are a perfect fit. The two fatties could analyse-in-depth Joe’s latest obsession.

Gingrich told reporters the candidates should hold 10 or 12 town hall meetings. Work mates and others who shudder when they hear Obama’s name, people who might have voted for him and those who never would have done so, tell me he’s a flip flopper who can’t be trusted. Rather than town hall meetings attended by both candidates they could each have one of their own.

Obama could invite people with trust issues and attempt to win them over. It’s past time McCain’s flip floppery was put in the spotlight.

McCain’s meeting would not take place since he is running scared from any opinion he’s ever held that could be remotely identified as liberal. It’s back to the future in Newt’s time machine and Johnny’s a good boy who does as he’s told.

John McCain is a pathetically inept campaigner. He stumbles over words and snorts over crude jokes that he spits out at the expense of others. Even supporters are a bit embarrassed by his performance at Sturgis, a week-long drunk and drug fest held each year in South Dakota to celebrate the hedonistic lifestyle of bikers and weekend warrior/wannabes, where the joke was on McCain’s wife, Cindy. The news has been all over it but the following detail is missing from the stories.

After he volunteers her for the Miss Buffalo Chip contest the crowd shouts, “Show us your boobs!”, and judging by his snorty response he found the request highly amusing.

5 August 2008
Tzipi Livni
Foreign Affairs Minister, Israel

Dear Foreign Minister Livni:

On behalf of the Free Gaza Movement, we would like to formally invite you to join us on our upcoming voyage from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip. We feel that your presence on this important mission would help alleviate concerns that have been expressed in the Israeli media about our objectives. More importantly, we believe that it would be extremely helpful for you to see firsthand the horrific effects of Israeli policies on the people of the Gaza Strip, as well as to witness firsthand the effectiveness of non-violent action in bringing about positive change.

While we disagree with many of the statements and policies you have made as the Israeli Foreign Minister, we wholeheartedly agree with a portion of something you wrote two years ago when you said:

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