Iraq speaker ordered on leave after brawl

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq's parliament on Sunday sent its Sunni speaker Mahmud Mashhadani on indefinite leave after he allegedly ordered his bodyguards to beat up a fellow MP, a lawmaker said.

Mashhadani, known for his loud rhetoric in parliament, set his bodyguards on Fariyad Mohammed after a heated verbal exchange outside the parliament hall, according to lawmaker Abdul Karim Anizi.

"There was an argument between the bodyguards of the speaker and Mohammed. Mashhadani then ordered his men to beat the Shiite MP," said Anizi, from Iraq's ruling Shiite alliance.

Parliament then convened a session, he added, in which it was decided to "send Mashhadani on indefinite leave and ask his deputy Khalid al-Attiya to take over ... until a new speaker is elected."

Anizi said parliament also told the Sunni National Concord Front, the main Sunni political bloc in the 275-member parliament, to forward a new name for the post of the speaker.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070610/wl_mideast_afp/iraqparliamentspeaker_070610132357;_ylt=Ak271oVPnDEoDilevvTEYiZX6GMA

[Kagemusha]

1. Hmm, their parliament can do that?

Interesting.

[BikeWriter]

2. Where do they think they are, Alabama?

[Ian David]

3. Did he call the guy a sonofabitch? n/t

[Eugene]

4. Iraqi Parliament Speaker Urged to Resign

Source: Associated Press

Iraqi Parliament Speaker Urged to Resign

Monday June 11, 2007 3:46 AM

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraqi legislators called Sunday
for the parliamentary speaker to step down after
an argument broke out between him and another
lawmaker.

The behavior of speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani,
a Sunni Arab, has repeatedly embarrassed the
government's Sunni Arab partners and Shiite
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition
government would welcome his removal.

Last year, al-Mashhadani survived a campaign by
Shiite and Kurdish politicians to remove him after
he said Iraqis who killed American troops should
be celebrated as heroes. Last month, he slapped
a fellow Sunni lawmaker in the face and called
him “scum” at the end of a raucous session.

-snip-

No vote was taken on al-Mashhadani's future, but
lawmakers from the parliament's major blocs gave
him the choice of resigning or going on indefinite
leave.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6699436,00.html

[Eugene]

5. Iraq parliament speaker removed

Source: Associated Press

Iraq parliament speaker removed

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer
5 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - Parliament voted Monday in a closed session
to remove the speaker after a series of scandals involving
the controversial lawmaker, legislators said. Mahmoud
al-Mashhadani will be replaced by another Sunni Arab, they
said.


Al-Mashhadani's behavior has repeatedly embarrassed the
Sunni Arab partners in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's
coalition government. Many of the house's 275 legislators
viewed his behavior as unbecoming and, on occasion, erratic.

Three lawmakers said the Iraqi Accordance Front, parliament's
largest Sunni Arab bloc with 44 of the house's 275 seats, has
pledged to offer a replacement for al-Mashhadani within a
week. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the subject.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_speaker_3