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Your Q on democratic consequences/appearance of a puppet gov seems to be: As with the US, even the THRESHOLD level of Iraqi leadership's answerability to their own representative body appears non-existent for Iraq's PM and triumvirate of Pres/ 2Veeps. To wit: at the same time that the Iraqi 144-signature parliamentary petition was presented requesting a vote on a withdrawal timetable - since PM Maliki has refused to allow a vote until now - one of his reps [a certain Mr al-Rubaei] passed Mr Cheney in the sky as each gov leader sallied forth to press the other country's representative body for a LONGER occupation - with lots of press that seems to have missed the dual irony because our US press ignored the AP story for 2 days on the iraqi parliamentary majority move. [the Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel, Think Progress, and a few others finding this story were also roundly ignored in the MSN]
Curious as to WaPo's lack of curiosity about majorities being ignored in both countries with no consequences to their leaders - whose "stay longer" views were by contrast were getting TONS of press in the US, I sent a Q to Dan Balz's live WaPo 11 am session on Thurs May 10. Sent it in the early a.m. in fact. Never got Printed.
So the next day [Fri 5/11] I sent another Q on puppets, also noting WaPo's 'catch-up' press converage of the Iraqi parliament's frustratino with al-Maliki: funny - my Q on puppetry got a "be glad to" response. But no matter how hard I look - I cant' seem to find any comment on puppets from WaPos' Weisman. He DOES manage a snide remark about anti-war activists and death squads... I think you'll enjoy our Friday 5/11 Q&A:
Warren, N.J.: Yesterday I wrote asking Mr. Balz to comment on the curious parallel situation where both a majority of Iraqi lawmakers and a majority of U.S. lawmakers were being stymied by their respective heads of government. This question was never printed. Today an article relegated to page A12 finally covers the AP wire story from a few days ago about the Iraqi Parliament, noting "the development was a sign of a growing division between Iraq's legislators and prime minister that mirrors the widening gulf between the Bush administration and its critics in Congress."
My question today: Will you comment on whether the parallel efforts by Mr al-Rubaei and Mr. Cheney, traveling to shore-up support in the face of growing opposition, indicate that Mr. Maliki seems more and more to be a puppet?
washingtonpost.com: Iraqi Lawmakers Back Bill on U.S. Withdrawal (Post, May 11)
Jonathan Weisman: I would be glad to. I also note that while the story ran inside the paper, it was flagged on the front page with what we call a tagline. That's the next best thing really. It is significant, but I must say the petition drive was organized by Moqtada al-Sadr's wing in Parliament. Yes, he speaks for a large number of Iraqi Shi'ites. But it's a little scary when anti-war activists in the United States latch on to the death squad organizers in Baghdad.
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St. Paul, Minn.: Hi Jonathan -- t
