Iraq's al-Maliki agrees to step down as prime minister, Iraqi state TV says

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

BAGHDAD – DEVELOPING:

 

Iraqi state TV: Nouri al-Maliki has given up the post of prime minister to Haider al-Abadi.

 

Earlier version of the story below:

 

Embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has agreed to step aside and support his nominated replacement in the post, Shiite lawmakers told The Associated Press on Thursday. If al-Maliki follows through, the move would end a political deadlock that plunged Baghdad into uncertainty as the country fights a Sunni militant insurgency.

 

The government announced that al-Maliki would deliver a nationally televised address Thursday evening, without elaborating.

 

Al-Maliki has been struggling for weeks to stay for a third four-year term as prime minister amid an attempt by opponents to push him out, accusing him of monopolizing power and pursuing a fiercely pro-Shiite agenda that has alienated the Sunni minority.

 

The pressure intensified this week when his Shiite political alliance backed another member of his party, Haider al-Abadi, to replace him, and President Fouad Massoum nominated al-Abadi to form the next government. Al-Maliki for days has refused to step aside, saying the nomination violates the constitution.

 

But in a meeting of his Dawa party on Thursday evening, al-Maliki agreed to endorse al-Abadi as the next prime minister, two senior lawmakers from his State of Law parliamentary bloc -- Hussein al-Maliki and Khalaf Abdul-Samad -- told the AP. They and two other Shiite lawmakers said al-Maliki would announce his endorse in his speech Thursday night. The two other lawmakers spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting.

 

The lawmakers said al-Maliki also agreed to drop a suit before the constitutional court challenging al-Abadi's nomination.

________

 

Say goodnight, Maliki.

[Valin]

What If We Had Stayed in Iraq?
August 15, 2014

 

Embattled Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki agreed to step aside in Baghdad yesterday in favor of rival Haider al-Abadi. The move shows that Iraq’s political system may still be able to function, at least to some extent.

 

(Snip)

 

Iraq’s politics are far from settled, and ISIS remains an imminent threat, but the pressure brought to bear indicates that Iraq’s political and social institutions, particularly among the Shi’a, are not so broken as has been reported. Despite another week of chaos, the Iraqis still managed to accomplish a peaceful transfer of power.

 

All of this makes us wonder what would have happened had the Obama administration been able to complete a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and keep American troops in Iraq after 2011. America’s most successful nation-building exercises—the occupation of Germany and Japan after the second World War—were prolonged and a lot messier than most people think. What might have happened had the U.S. had stayed engaged in Iraq?