Moqtada Tateral-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
and head of the country’s Badr Organization Hadi al-Amiri have announced a political alliance between their parties.
The announcement was made on Tuesday during a joint pressers held in the Iraqi city of Najaf.
Sadr's Sairoon bloc won 54 out of 329 seats in the Iraqi parliament. The Fatah (Conquest) alliance, led by Badr Organization Secretary General Hadi al-Ameri, and Abadi's Nasr (Victory) coalition finished second and third with 47 and 42 seats, respectively.
Meanwhile,
...back at the wrecked scow, Agent 49 felt gingerly for his head. It was still there. He had been hoping differently...
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says that he is opposed any rerun of the May 12 parliamentary election, and warned that those who try to disrupt the political process would be punished.
"The matter is exclusively in the hands of the judiciary, not politicians. The government and parliament don’t have the power to cancel the election," he said.
On Sunday, the storage site housing ballot boxes from Iraq’s May parliamentary elections caught fire ahead of a recount.
On Monday, Iraqi state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
announced that three of the suspects are members of the country's police force while the other is a employee of the Independent High Elections Commission.