During talks with Kurdish President Massoud Barzani yesterday, Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr mandate insisted that there would be no support for an overthrow of the government, but he did suggest the possibility of not renewing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s mandate as premier. Barzani and Sadr have both called Maliki a dictator in recent weeks, and the increasingly marginalized Sunnis mostly agree with them.
Although Maliki has promised he would not run for a third term, at least one advisor has intimated that Maliki has every right to run again. Furthermore, the recent arrests of high-ranking election officials suggest that the administration is gearing up to hamper new elections if not outright cancel them.
At least seven Iraqis were killed and seven more were wounded today:
A 45-year-old woman was killed along with her three children when gunmen stormed their Abu Garma home.
A chemical warfare victim finally succumbed to the aftereffects of an attack that took place in Balisan 25-years-ago.
Two gunmen were killed and two soldiers were wounded in a clash at a stronghold near Buhriz.
In Baghdad, a bomb wounded three people in the Shabb neighborhood.
A blast in Bani Saad left one wounded.
In Baquba, a civilian was wounded when a sticky bomb exploded.
A power transmission tower was sabotaged in Hadeed.
