WASHINGTON - November 30 - On November 28, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the occupation force in Iraq. The Council acted in response to a request from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The US and the UK rushed the vote through the Council far in advance of the December 31 expiration of the mandate of the so-called "Multinational Force." The vote took place just one day after consultations were held. The matter was not inscribed in the work program of the Council for this month, and many observers expected the vote to take place in December.

Among those most surprised by the rushed vote were members of the Iraqi Parliament. The Iraq Project Director at Global Exchange, Raed Jarrar, contacted four Iraqi Parliamentarians today: a Sunni, a Shia, and two secular representatives. “All of them were totally shocked that Prime Minister al-Maliki had by-passed the Iraqi Parliament,” Jarrar reports. According to Parliamentarian Dr. Jabir Habib (An Iraqi Shia close to the al-Sadr group), the Iraqi Assembly was supposed to vote on this issue in 10 days.

"We spent the last months discussing the conditions we wanted to add to the mandate, and the majority of the Parliament decided on three major conditions,” said Dr. Habib. “These were pulling for coalition forces out of the cities, giving Iraqis the right to build their army and security forces, and change the system to have the UN mandate expire every 6 months instead of yearly.” None of these conditions were included in the final document.

Mr. Hasan al-Shammari, a Shia Parliamentarian representing the al-Fadila party, said on Tuesday, "We had a closed session two days ago, and we were supposed to vote on the mandate in 10 days. I can't believe the mandate was just approved without our knowledge or input."

Dr. Hajim al-Hassani, a secular Sunni and former speaker of the Parliament, did not even know that the mandate had been renewed. "If this is true, it is breaking the agreements we had with al-Maliki,” he said. Mr. al-Hassani added "We were supposed to have a meeting with the Prime Minister and other top officials in the Parliament during the next couple of weeks to decide what to do with the mandate." Mr. Saleh al-Mutlaq, a secular Parliamentarian, was also shocked. "This is totally unexpected. It is another example how the Prime Minister is not taking the Parliament seriously".

According to most of the Parliamentarians contacted by Global Exchange, it is unconstitutional for the Prime Minister to ask for a renewal of the UN mandate without consulting the Iraqi Parliament.

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