Iraq's Main Sunni Parliamentary Bloc Ends Boycott of Parliament

France42.com website brings us this story this morning... Iraq's main Sunni parliamentary bloc, the National Concord Front, ended its boycott of the assembly on Thursday, in a move that could help the passage of key laws aimed at promoting national unity... The 44-member bloc had walked out of the legislature last month in protest at the ouster of the Sunni speaker of the assembly, Mahmud Mashhadani, after he allegedly ordered his bodyguards to beat up a Shiite MP...
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Iraqi Sunni bloc ends boycott of parliament

Iraqi Lawmakers Meet in Extraordinary Session of Defiance against Terrorism

MercuryNews.com has this story today that starts off like this... Iraq's Parliament met in an extraordinary session of defiance on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, and declared it would not bow to terrorism. A bouquet of red roses and a white lily sat in the place of Mohammed Awad, the lawmaker killed a day earlier in the dining hall suicide bombing claimed by al-Qaida... Parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani opened the session and asked lawmakers to recite verses from the Quran in honor of Awad, who he called a hero...
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Iraqi lawmakers meet to defy terrorism