Mayor of Baghdad is deposed? Isn't that a coup? Why isn't it news?

[Hamlette]

I've seen two articles in the times but nothing on broadcast news (I admit, I don't watch much broadcast news anymore).

Isn't this a big deal? He was deposed by Shiite militia. Can you say "Iran"? Is this a huge indication of a civil war which is likely to end in religious nut cases running Iraq?

Why aren't people talking about this? Are we gonna fix it? Why not? Was the mayor elected? Don't we support democracy?

I'm so confused.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Yikes! The cakewalk just never ends, does it?

[BlueEyedSon]

3. Freedom is on the march!

[ewagner]

2. Link? n/t

[mwb970]

7. Here's one take on it.

http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1123683216.shtml

[Hamlette]

11. sorry for not providing the link

www.nytimes.com
A front page article, and there was one yesterday (but now that I think of it, I might have read this article last night and only thought I'd see two articles, its hard keeping up with all the crap going on with this admin. Like a game of "wack a mole".)

You'd think this would be a bigger deal.

[LeftNYC]

4. More from Salon...

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/index.html

Is this what Condi means by "quiet political progress"?
As we noted earlier this week, Condoleezza Rice says Americans risk missing the forest for the dead soldiers in Iraq. The insurgency is "losing steam," the secretary of state told Time, but "it's a lot easier to see the violence and suicide bombing than to see the rather quiet political progress that's going on in parallel."

Quiet political progress? Maybe this is what she means. According to the New York Times, gunmen stormed into Baghdad's municipal building Monday, deposed the city's mayor and installed a member of Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia in his place. The deposed mayor is now in hiding, fearing for his life.

It's not exactly a sign of the getting-better-every-day tale the Bush administration would like to tell, but the story probably won't get much attention in the United States anyway: Five more U.S. soldiers were killed in Baghdad Tuesday, bringing August's death toll to 43 just 10 days into the month.

[TWiley]

5. Lets see, ..... Because Mission is Accomplished? n/t

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. Looked at AP

but I didn't see anything on a quick scan of breaking news headlines or World News section. How odd.

One would think this WOULD BE a BIG HEADLINE, at least!

This would also be a BAD HEADLINE. That's probably the best explanation.

[GOPisEvil]

8. Gunmen Kidnap Iraqi Interior Official

http://salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8BT0UCG0.html

August 10,2005 | BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Gunmen kidnapped a senior Iraqi Interior Ministry official Wednesday as he drove his car in central Baghdad, police said.

The kidnapping occurred in Baghdad's Andalus Square when gunmen stopped Brig. Gen. Khudayer Abbas, who heads the administrative affairs office at the Interior Ministry.

Police Maj. Abbas Mohammed Salman said Abbas was forced into another vehicle that sped away.


This is in addition to the mayor of Baghdad being deposed. A GREAT day in Iraq.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. No, the ex-mayor was appointed by Bremer

The group that ousted him insisted that it had the authority to assume control of Iraq's capital city and that Mr. Tamimi was in no danger. The man the group installed, Hussein al-Tahaan, is a member of the Badr Organization, the armed militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, known as Sciri.
...
"If we wanted to do something bad to him, we would have done that," said Mazen A. Makkia, the elected city council chief who led the ouster on Monday and who had been in a lengthy and unresolved legal feud with Mr. Tamimi.
...
Mr. Tamimi, the deposed mayor, was appointed by the central government and held ministerial rank. He was originally put in place by L. Paul Bremer III, the top American administrator in the country until an Iraqi government took over in June 2004.

Baghdad is the only city in Iraq that is its own province, and the city council had previously appointed Mr. Tahaan as governor of Baghdad province, with some responsibilities parallel to Mr. Tamimi's. But the mayor's office was clearly the more powerful office, a fact that proved to be a painful thorn in the side of Mr. Makkia, who believed that the council, which he controls, should hold sway in Baghdad.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/international/middleeast/10iraq.html?ex=1124337600&en=9d54d38f7d747d44&ei=5070&emc=eta1

[Supersedeas]

10. clearly this justifies the invasion and investment is $$ and blood