Iraq's Parliament Passes
Major Reconciliation Law
February 13, 2008 2:05 p.m.
BAGHDAD – Iraq's Parliament cleared the way Wednesday for provincial elections that could give Sunnis a stronger voice and institute vast changes in Iraq's power structure after the Oct. 1 vote.
The new law is one of the most sweeping reforms pushed by the Bush administration and signals that Iraq's politicians finally, if grudgingly, may be ready for small steps toward reconciliation.
Passage of several pieces of legislation, along with a reduction in violence, were the primary goals of the U.S. troop increase that President Bush ordered early last year.
FIGHT FOR IRAQSee continuing coverage of developments in Iraq, including an interactive map of day-to-day events in Iraq and a tally of military deaths.
Still pending and not likely to face positive action soon is a measure that would divide Iraq's oil wealth, one of the most vexing problems facing both parliament and the government.
The Bush administration hailed the laws' passage. "Many said that Iraq's communities couldn't relate to each other. Their grievances, their distrusts were so profound, they couldn't reach fundamental compromises. Well, we've never believed that that was a correct assessment," said David Satterfield, senior adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Debate on the provincial election measure was raucous and ended in an 82-82 tie, broken by Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani. Tuesday night, he threatened to disband the legislature and call early elections because lawmakers had been unable to compromise or even maintain a quorum.
U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker voiced pleasure that his labors -- pushing and prodding Iraqi politicians -- were showing results. "These are difficult issues. They required a lot of effort, a lot of compromise, but they are important steps forward," he said at a news conference shortly after the vote.
The provincial elections and powers law was bundled together with the $48 billion 2008 budget measure and another that grants limited amnesty to prisoners being held in Iraqi custody.
Kurds, who operate from a semiautonomous region in the north of the country, insisted on the unusual legislative maneuver because they feared getting double-crossed on a deal that maintained their 17% share of the national budget.
The provincial law calls for new elections in all Iraq's provinces, except those in the Kurdish region, on Oct. 1. The newly elected councils will then elect an executive committee and appoint a governor, the top provincial official. The law calls for the provinces to work with the United Nations on how the elections will operate and whether candidates will be selected by parties and voted on as a list or be listed on the ballot individually.
Most importantly, the measure would allow provinces to band together into regional governments that would begin making many decisions that now lie with the authorities in Baghdad.
It was widely expected, as well, that many of the U.S. new Sunni allies in places like Anbar province -- the so-called Awakening Councils -- would hotly contest for seats this time around, after sitting out elections in 2005.
Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr also was said to strongly back the measure because he saw it as a means of unseating rival politicians of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council who now have a lock on power in Shiite provinces in the oil-rich south of the country.
After passing the measures, Parliament adjourned for a five-week break. The bills must now approved by Iraq's three-man presidency council.
Also Wednesday, an Iraqi interpreter for CBS News kidnapped in Basra was freed Wednesday. A British journalist who was abducted at the same time remained in captivity, police said.
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