Iraq’s fractious parliament squeezed its abrasive speaker out of a job and authorized non-US troops to stay for another half-year on Tuesday in a pair of high-stakes moves in its final session of the year.
Under heavy pressure from Shiite and Kurdish lawmakers, Sunni speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani resigned on the losing end of a long-running power struggle. Lawmakers applauded his announcement, quickly approved it. then passed a measure allowing Britain’s 4,000 troops and several smaller contingents from other countries to stay through July.
“I do believe that I was faithfully doing good work,” he said in his address to the chamber where he often offended other lawmakers. “If I caused hurt to you, I ask your forgiveness.”
Al-Mashhadani has clashed repeatedly with Kurdish and Shiite lawmakers in recent years.
The enmity reached its peak last week in a shouting match over the detention of the journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush.
Within a half-hour of his resignation, parliament approved the troops measure in a voice vote — just a week before the UN mandate authorizing foreign troops was to expire.
The new measure will allow non-US troops to stay through and assist US troops until the end of July. The Americans can remain until the end of 2011 under a separate security agreement.
The authorization for foreign troops became entangled in al-Mashhadani’s quarrel with Kurdish and Shiite lawmakers last week, when he hurled abuse during a session and threatened to resign. His opponents ultimately forced him to keep his word. In turn, al-Mashhadani tried to delay until Jan. 7 the vote on the foreign troops resolution — a week after next Tuesday’s expiration of the UN mandate.
Meanwhile, Salvadoran President Tony Saca announced on Tuesday he would withdraw Salvadoran troops from Iraq after Dec. 31, pulling out the only remaining soldiers from Latin America.
Five of El Salvador’s soldiers have been killed and more than 20 have been wounded since the country deployed troops there in 2003.
It currently has 200 soldiers based near the southeastern Shiite city of Kut.
Saca said last month that Iraqi President Jalal Talibani had written him a letter asking him to keep Salvadoran troops in Iraq. But he said the Iraqi government never followed up.
Britain has already said it plans to withdraw its 4,000 troops from southern Iraq by the end of May.
Australia, Estonia and Romania also have troops in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was due to hold talks yesterday with Ankara on ways to fight Turkish separatist Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq.
Maliki was to meet Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On Tuesday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, gave fresh assurances that both Baghdad and the Kurdish administration of northern Iraq were determined to purge the region of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“We, the Iraqi Kurds, will no longer allow armed people from any Kurdish group to use our territory to carry out attacks on Turkey or Iran,” Talabani said in an interview with Turkey’s Aksam daily published yesterday.
“We will take the necessary measures,” he said, adding that Kurdish parties in northern Iraq would soon convene a meeting to issue a joint appeal to the PKK to abandon its armed struggle.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
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Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
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