Reply #4: Iraqi Parliament Speaker Urged to Resign [View All]

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-