Its a Bad Joke

I have waited throughout the day to see if NPR or someone else picked up this story. As of this hour, the lead story is whether or not the house will vote on the bill that only funds half of the POTUS's request. The second story is Tony Blair's departure. After that, there is a veteran story, followed by the Wall Street drop. Then, there was a brief mention of Cheney's visit to the mideast.

But this story from Alternet, picked up by Truth Out and Buzzflash, is not there.

"On Tuesday, without note in the U.S. media, more than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country. 144 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal, according to Nassar Al-Rubaie, a spokesman for the Al Sadr movement, the nationalist Shia group that sponsored the petition.

It's a hugely significant development. Lawmakers demanding an end to the occupation now have the upper hand in the Iraqi legislature for the first time; previous attempts at a similar resolution fell just short of the 138 votes needed to pass (there are 275 members of the Iraqi parliament, but many have fled the country's civil conflict, and at times it's been difficult to arrive at a quorum).

Reached by phone in Baghdad on Tuesday, Al-Rubaie said that he would present the petition, which is nonbinding, to the speaker of the Iraqi parliament and demand that a binding measure be put to a vote. Under Iraqi law, the speaker must present a resolution that's called for by a majority of lawmakers, but there are significant loopholes and what will happen next is unclear.

What is clear is that while the U.S. Congress dickers over timelines and benchmarks, Baghdad faces a major political showdown of its own. The major schism in Iraqi politics is not between Sunni and Shia or supporters of the Iraqi government and "anti-government forces," nor is it a clash of "moderates" against "radicals"; the defining battle for Iraq at the political level today is between nationalists trying to hold the Iraqi state together and separatists backed, so far, by the United States and Britain." more

The biggest story about the war, that the democracy we created wants us out, is not being covered. And that makes for an even bigger story.

Perhaps the story is not accurate, but this mention from AP indicates that the story is correct. The original story, by Raed Jarrar, can be greatly enhanced by reading his blog.

But the short of it is this.

There is a civil war in Iraq. But it is not between the Shia, the Sunni, and the Kurds. It's a civil war between the Nationalists who want a whole Iraq, and the Separatists, who with the US, Britain, and the IMF, want a chopped up Iraq in order to get the oil.

Not telling that story means you are in on the deal. That apparently includes our MS media, and both political parties.

It means, as far as truth is concerned,

It's a bad joke.

We might as well just watch John Stewart from now on.

At least his jokes are funny.



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