Iraq In the News

Two completely different stories from and about Iraq surfaced today.  From Turkey’s Hurriet Daily,

Iraq opposition seeks to replace PM Maliki

Leaders from almost all of Iraq’s top political blocs will convene at a unity meeting in Arbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish region, on May 7, in order to find a solution to the political crisis between the Shiite-led government and the country’s Sunnis and Kurds.

If the current Iraqi Prime Minister fails to agree to increase dialogue with other political entities in Iraq, former Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari is most likely to be nominated to the post at the upcoming unity meeting, a senior Kurdish official told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview.

In the NY Times a hopeful sign:

Sitting Around, Having a Drink, Joking About Sex. On Iraqi TV.

“Between us friends,” Mr. Shawi said, speaking of the program’s hosts and crew members, “we always talk about these things. Why can’t we let the audience see this reality?”

They have, and for that they have attracted a huge following for the program, “There Is Someone” — named for a standard Iraqi segue into a joke, something akin to “knock, knock.” The show, broadcast on Sunday nights, has become a national sensation and the talk of the proverbial water cooler on Monday mornings. Bootleg DVDs of previous episodes are brisk sellers in the city’s markets.

Of course not everyone in Iraq thinks this is so funny… Death threats have appeared,