PERWI

The parliamentary vote on the US-Iraq security pact was postponed on Wednesday. Delayed until Thursday the security pact has undergone several drafts in an attempt to keep various political factions on board and to push it through parliament with a respectable majority. The proposed deal would require US troops to withdraw from Iraq cities by the end of June and from the rest of the country by the end of 2011. It would also give Iraq jurisdiction and supervision of US forces. However intense political wrangling continues to stall the vote. Parliamentary MP’s decided to make the pact dependent on a national referendum to be held in 2009. The decision to hold a referendum next year could set Baghdad on a collision course with Washington as the UN mandate governing international forces in Iraq expires on Dec 31st. .   .    ;     ;     Watch video

Reports indicate that Eric Holder will be Barack Obama's nominee to the position of Attorney General. Bruce Fein believes that the choice of Holder is a poor one for a variety of reasons. The first being that Holder, according to Fein, has yet to demonstrate a critique of the Bush administration's conduct that is grounded in an understanding of the constitution. Fein points to Holder's recent call for the closing of Guantanamo Bay military prison as an example of this, opining that Holder's criticisms of the prison are limited to the prison's location and do not question the underlying right of the United States to keep prisoners without charging them. One issue that is sure to factor greatly in the discussion over Holder's appointment will be his involvement in Bill Clinton's last-day pardon of Marc Rich. Fein believes that Holder's actions at that time reveal an unwillingness to stand up to his superiors, at that time represented by Clinton, a trait that Fein believes is central to the role of the Attorney General. Finally, by participating in the pardoning of Rich, Fein believes that Holder, and by association Obama, have lost the moral position necessary to denounce any of the potential pardons that many are expecting to see come from the desk of George W. Bush in his final days in office.

Michael Schwartz deconstructs the US-Iraq security pact:

In the first part of this series, professor Michael Schwartz, author of a recent new book on the Iraq war, examines the twists and turns of the Bush administrations' rush to have a security pact approved by the Iraqi Parliament before Bush leaves office. . . watch video

KUALA LUMPUR, 24 Nov, Harakah dan Malaysiakini melaporkan Usul Ketua Pembangkang, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim di bawah perkara 18 (1) khas bagi membincangkan isu kegawatan ekonomi yang dibawa ke Dewan Rakyat pagi tadi ditolak oleh Speaker Dewan Rakyat, Dato' Ronald Kiandee.

Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin was today questioned by the police over two articles on Islam posted on his Malaysia Today website.

At the same time, Raja Petra, 58, who is the editor of the blog, also lodged a police report against the authorities for his almost two months detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA). .  .  .   .  read more

.Mr. Derakhshan, an Iranian-Canadian, had lived in Canada since 2000 but moved back to Tehran a few weeks ago. He traveled to Israel in 2007 and wrote about it on his blog. . source : nyt

The Iraqi parliament will vote on Wednesday on a controversial pact negotiated with Washington that would see US occupation forces leave the war-torn country by the end of 2011, its speaker said on Saturday. . . . read more

The Iraqi people’s human and civil rights were - and remain -swept aside by the occupation.

By Burhan Al-Chalabi.

The U.S. Presidential Election has sent a clear and unequivocal message to the world. The American people have rejected the foreign and domestic policies of President George W. Bush.

In Britain, the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, found his position unsustainable and resigned, leaving the invasion of Iraq and its awful consequences as his political legacy. The new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has talked about the need to be open and transparent in order to win the trust of the British public, but has so far shown no sign of addressing or redressing his predecessor’s failed policies in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. The military occupation of Iraq and the exploitation of its vast mineral wealth continue unabated.

To justify the invasion of and war against Iraq, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair cited two violations by the Iraqi regime: of human rights and of UN Security Council resolutions passed just before and after the first Gulf War of 1991. The purpose of the war, it was claimed, was to hold the Iraqi regime accountable under international law.

But by invading Iraq, the U.S. Administration and the British Government were themselves violating UN resolutions and international law, as stated in the Report by Lord Bingham, the Law Lord, and published in the Guardian on 18th November 2008. The Iraqi people’s human and civil rights were ---and remain---swept aside by the acts of war and the continuing fact of occupation. . . . . read more

Public Forum : “Iraq war was illegal. Get real and stop lying!”