Iraqi MPs are gathering votes to force their government to set a deadline for US forces to withdraw from the country and think they have a majority, a leading Shiite politician announced May 11. Baha al-Aaraji, a supporter of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, told AFP that 144 members of the 275-seat national assembly have signed a draft law that would set a departure timetable for US troops. However, other legislators said the bill would probably become a non-binding petition, and that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki would martial enough support to renew the US mandate next month. (iAfrica [2], May 12)
UK Treasurer Gordon Brown, fingered by the outgoing Tony Blair as Labor's candidate for prime minister, continued to act as if there is broad-based support for the occupation in Iraq. While conceding "I accept that mistakes have been made," Brown said: "We will keep our obligations to the Iraqi people." (Daily Mail [3], May 12)
See our last posts on Iraq [4], the UK [5] and the politics of withdrawal [6].
