The Daily Background

The Shiite-split is happening. As discussed earlier this week, since President Bush is meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mouri al-Maliki (himself a Shiite), the bloc of Iraqi Shiites aligned with Moqtada al-Sadr will be boycotting to government (not to mention that al-Sadr commands the formidible Shiite Mahdi Army, which is estimated to be 40,000 or 50,000 strong). This is a major event because the bloc is one of the biggest in the Iraqi parliament and now they’re refusing to cooperate… Washington Post:

A bloc of Iraqi lawmakers allied with militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr announced Wednesday that they were suspending their involvement in the government to protest Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s trip to Jordan to meet with President Bush.

A statement issued by the 30 lawmakers and five Cabinet ministers said their action was necessary because the Amman summit constituted a “provocation to the feelings of the Iraqi people and a violation of their constitutional rights,” the Associated Press reported. The statement did not explain that claim.

Also, the Times has obtained a secret memo that says that al-Maliki maybe unable to do much of anything to stop the violence. Read about that here.

Filed under: Iraq Related, Z-TDB Blog