Iraq's parliament adopts law legalizing Shiite militias
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Iraq's parliament on Saturday voted to accord full legal status to government-sanctioned Shiite militias as a "back-up and reserve" force for the military and police and empower them to "deter" security and terror threats facing the country, like ISIS.
The legislation, supported by 208 of the chamber's 327 members, was promptly rejected by Sunni Arab politicians and lawmakers who said it was evidence of what they called the "dictatorship" of the country's Shiite majority.
"The majority does not have the right to determine the fate of everyone else," Osama al-Nujaifi, one of Iraq's three vice presidents and a senior Sunni politician, told a news conference after the vote. "There should be genuine political inclusion. This law must be revised."
