On Tuesday, without note in the U.S. media (my emphasis), more than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country. 144 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal, according to Nassar Al-Rubaie, a spokesman for the Al Sadr movement, the nationalist Shia group that sponsored the petition.
It's a hugely significant development. Lawmakers demanding an end to the occupation now have the upper hand in the Iraqi legislature for the first time; previous attempts at a similar resolution fell just short of the 138 votes needed to pass (there are 275 members of the Iraqi parliament, but many have fled the country's civil conflict, and at times it's been difficult to arrive at a quorum).
Let's be clear that the conservative congresspeople and pundits who keep getting a platform to urge patience for Bush's "plan" and painting the anti-war movement as the fringe-left are truly without any hold on reality. What new math are these chickenhawks using where 60% is considered "fringe"? Is the Iraqi parliament also controlled by George Soros? And even more critically, why did this pass WITHOUT A PEEP from the media. You'd think that they didn't want us to know...
Let's face it, George. It's getting pretty lonely on your side of that line in the sand.
