"Part
of what I’d like to do is talk to the prime minister and see what still
remains to be done, what still needs to be closed," Rice said before
meeting with Maliki at his home in the fortified Green Zone here.
"Nothing will be signed today." American and Iraqi negotiators have
been saying for weeks that they are close to an agreement, but that
Maliki has held up the process over his concern that the agreement
doesn't give Iraq enough authority over U.S. troop conduct. The
agreement foresees U.S. combat troops leaving Iraq by 2011, Iraqi
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has said. Other Iraqi officials have
told McClatchy that the agreement also calls for U.S. forces to pull
out of Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009. One senior Iraqi official said
Maliki has been the primary obstacle to completing the agreement. Every
time negotiators seem close to conlucding the talks, Maliki raises a
new issue, the official said.
The above is from Jonathan S. Landy's "Rice meets with Iraq's Maliki on U.S. troop agreement" (McClatchy Newspapers). Before we get to anything else, US House Representative Stephanie Tubb Jones has died. Pictured below
with Senator Hillary Clinton for the "Count Every Vote" initiative,
Tubbs Jones was a courageous member of the House who stood up for the
voters and for the vote in January 2005 (along with US Senator Barbara
Boxer). The New York Times
had long ridiculed questions of voter fraud in the 2000 and 2004
elections. Tubbs Jones and Boxer's stand meant the press had to take it
a little more seriously.
Congresswoman Tubbs Jones and Senator Clinton reintroduce their Count Every Vote Legislation.
Stephanie
Tubbs Jones was a judge, a prosecutor and, following the November 1998
elections, a member of the House of Representatives.
Back to Iraq, Alexandra Zavis reports on Baquba in "Grooming a female suicide bomber" (Los Angeles Times): The
ethnically and religiously mixed province east of Baghdad has long been
a center of Al Qaeda in Iraq, which formed alliances here with Sunni
tribesmen and nationalist political groups against Shiite militants.
This is a world in which few women are educated, loyalty to family and
tribe are paramount, and fear permeates relations with outsiders. Al
Qaeda in Iraq leaders, known as emirs, managed to recruit entire clans
to their cause by marrying into the families here. The women forced
into these marriages are often passed around among emirs, said Saja
Quadouri, who sits on the provincial council's security committee and
is its only female member. "They will get married to more than one
man and get pregnant without knowing who the father is," she said.
"Eventually, due to despair, hopelessness and fear, they get exploited
to commit such crimes, as they become unwanted by society." Other
women are persuaded to perform a suicide mission to avenge the loss of
a father, husband or brother, said a U.S. intelligence analyst, who
asked not to be identified for security reasons. In tribal societies,
the loss of male relatives typically leaves women without protection or
means of survival. Asma's marriage collapsed shortly before her
husband died in a shootout; she says she does not know who killed him.
Her father has spent the last three years in a U.S. detention facility
on terrorism charges.
The article makes sweeping
generalizations and suffers from what is basically an admission that
guilt or innocence doesn't matter. It damn well does. When women are
being imprisoned, guilt or innocence damn well matters. (I'm referring
to the entire approach of the article but specifically this sentence:
"Although it remains far from clear whether the women committed the
crimes of which they were accused, the tale they shared from their
barren cell offers a peek into the violent and claustrophobic world in
which women are groomed to become suicide bombers.")
The New York Times files four articles from Iraq. The strongest is Campbell Robertson and James Glanz' "Iraqi Figures Back U.S. View on Low Spending for Reconstruction"
(A7) which tells you that the Iraqi Finance Ministry claims (in figures
they handed over to the Times as well as in statements to the paper)
that they are spending 57% "of their annual reconstruction budget";
however, the paper's examination of the figures finds that 18% is the
better number and if monies for the Kudistan region (which have not
been spent, only allocated) is removed, the figure "drops to 8.7
percent." Stephen Farrell offers "U.N. Readies 'Grand Deal' to Resolve Iraq's Dispute Over Kirkuk" (A8) and the main topic was covered in yesterday's snapshot so we'll focus on the more interesting section buried at the end:
Meanwhile
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of Lebanon arrived in Baghdad on
Wednesday, in the footsteps of King Abdullah II of Jordan, who earlier
this month became the first Arab leader to visit Iraq since the
American-led 2003 invasion. Mr.
Siniora appeared with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki at a news
conference about an agreement to export oil to Lebanon. Iraqi oil was
also prominent on King Abdullah's agenda.
The
difficulty in reaching a final agreement reflects its importance to
Iraq and the United States. Technically, the document will provide the
legal basis for American troops to remain in Iraq beyond 2008. But it
will also amount to a political document, spelling out for the people
of each nation the most difficult issues of this war, notably how long
American troops will remain. The
main sticking points, in fact, are also the most delicate: setting a
timeline for American troops to leave and declaring whether American
forces would be granted immunity from Iraqi prosecution. In
Baghdad, Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister, said that the text of
a draft had been agreed upon by negotiators on the technical and legal
teams who had worked on it since March 11. But he cautioned that this
fell short of a final agreement because it had yet to be approved by
the political leadership in either country, including Prime Minister
Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
Anything that comes out will be a
draft. (A point even the White House has made this week -- on Tuesday
-- but is somehow lost by the press.) The fourth article? We'll address
it in the next entry.
As late as yesterday, we didn't think we had a chance.
For the first time in this campaign, we were at serious risk of missing a self-imposed financial goal.
Then, yesterday, you came through.
And now, we're back in it.
Now, we're just shy of $42,000.
And we have a chance to hit our goal of $50,000 by 11:59 pm tonight.
But we're going to have to bust a gut to get there.
All out.
All day.
All night.
So, we are calling on 900 of you -- our most loyal supporters -- to donate $10 each now to push us over the top.
(900 times $10 equals $9,000, right?)
And
for every $10 contribution you donate today, we will give free
admission to a needy student who wants to come to hear Ralph Nader at
our Open the Debates Super Rally at the University of Denver's Magness
Arena. ($10 in advance, $12 at the door.)
Ralph will be joined by his running mate Matt Gonzalez.
And -- breaking news -- a star studded line-up will join Ralph and Matt in a call to open up the Presidential debates.
Featuring -- Val Kilmer, Cindy Sheehan and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, Jello Biafra, Nellie McKay, and Ike Reilly.
So, please -- give a student a chance to attend this historic event.
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PS: Last chance to get our two DVD Sicko/Awake from Your Slumber package. If you donate $100 or more by tomorrow night, we will send you the best argument yet made for single payer Medicare for all health insurance -- the DVD Sicko. Plus, we'll send Awake from Your Slumber -- the DVD starring Ralph Nader and Patti Smith -- autographed by Ralph.
jonathan s. landay
mcclatchy newspapers
alexandra zavis
the los angeles times
stephen farrell
the new york times
thom shanker
campbell robertson
james glanz
