Iraq’s National Assembly today named Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as the country’s first democratically elected president in more than 50 years, breaking a two-month deadlock on forming a new government.
The appointment resolves differences over power sharing between the United Iraqi Alliance, which won the most seats in the Jan. 30 vote, and the second-placed Kurdish Alliance. Shiite Interim Finance Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi and former Sunni President Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar were chosen as Talabani’s two deputies.
“This is the new Iraq where no sect or minority controls the whole country and where all the people are unified,’’ Speaker of the House and Interim Industry Minister Hajem al-Hassani said in a live broadcast of the session aired by al-Jazeera television.
Members of the 275-seat Assembly gathered inside a temporary parliament building in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone and sat in silence as ballots were counted. The trio got 227 votes and there were 30 empty ballots, al-Hassani said. They’ll take their posts in an official ceremony in the capital tomorrow, he added.
Sure, it’s a ceremonial post, but before you let anyone diminish what is happening in Iraq right now, consider this: a Kurd has just been named President of an Arab country, and his position comes as the result of a national democratic election.
For his part, Saddam Hussein, who murdered 5000 Kurds with chemical weapons in a single afternoon in 1988, gets to watch all this from his jail cell—his two murderous sons sleeping the eternal dirt sleep as he awaits a trial that will almost certainly condemn him to death.
God bless America.
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update: Doug Stewart at Literal Barrage questions CNN Headline News’ framing of the story. And he uses a spiffy chart!
The showoff.
We have done an indisputably good thing in destroying an undeniable evil, and so we will always be hated by those for whom moral ambiguity is good and “simplistic dichotomies” are evil.
Also, for interesting symbolism, note that Saddam Hussein’s preferred title (the one he used to identify himself when captured, for instance) was “President of Iraq.” Sure, this President doesn’t have anything like Saddam’s power, or even the new PM’s power, but there’s some nice karma there anyhow….
That was my first thought.. ‘a Kurd ?’.. whoooaaa!
Dude, this should have been Chimpy McHitlerburton Moment… There had better be a Nobel Peace Prize in this for Chimpy .. especially considering the dubious ‘achievements’ of past winners.
Turing word: attack
As in: I’m sure the Kurds havent forgotten the 1988 Nerve Gas attack.. not to mention the bio, radioactive and conventional attacks.. So long Saddam.. So long Saddam..So long Saddam.. Its time to say goodnight…
Chimpy McHitlerburton’s stooges continue imposing their fake gov’t on the poor oppressed Iraqis, some of whom continue to honorably and valiantly oppose the evil imperialists and their puppet regime. It’s so sad to see Iraqis deprived of their rightful, beloved leader Saddam Hussein, who was this close to peacefully disarming and handing the country over to a freely elected government without anyone needing to be killed.
re: your last line
A-freaking-men!
Gail,
You poor, unenlightened fool. Evil isn’t wrong, calling something evil is wrong.
Yet one more thing done Not In Their Name – ‘their’ being the antiwar movement, of course. We should keep a list.
Pass the lord and praise the ammunition.
And grease up the industrial plastic shredder for Sammy…
Indeed, and calling something evil could well be called evil by those that believe evil exists only in the calling. (I like to picture their heads spinning when they try to work this sort of thing out.)
Now Iraqi democracy needn’t fear the Kurds getting in the way.
JWebb, I just don’t know how to respond to that. You are a demon sent from Hell to torment us. How’s that?
Yeah, sorry. That was Abaddon. . .
No JWebb, it was wonderful! Straight out of Pundaemonium.