You can read my Huffington Post blog item on Jim McDermott's teleconference with Iraqi parliamentarians and the emerging National Salvation Front in Iraq here.

Here's an excerpt:

The substance of the event was critically important. All five Iraqi parliamentarians called for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq, along with urgent steps to help end the civil war, restore Iraq's old army, accommodate the dissolved Baath party, and rebuild the shattered economy. And they are not alone: a majority of the Iraqi parliament favors the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, a fact that gets little or no attention from either the media or the U.S. government.

The most important participant in the event from the Iraqi side was Nadim al-Jaberi, a member of parliament and co-founder of the Fadhila party. Until last week, the Fadhila party was part of the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite bloc that is the largest faction in the 270-member assembly. Fadhila is a nationalist party with tremendous grassroots support across southern Iraq, and it holds 15 seats in parliament. Last week, Fadhila pulled out of the UIA, announcing its attention to seek the establishment of a new power bloc in Iraq, one that includes both Sunnis, secular Iraqis, and Shia.

Fadhila is working with several other Iraqi factions, all of whom had participants in the teleconference organized by McDermott, including the National Dialogue Front (11 seats), which was represented by Saleh Mutlaq; the Iraqi Accord Front (44 seats), which represents religious Sunnis; the Iraqi National List, led by Iyad Allawi, the former Iraqi prime minister (25 seats), and others, including independents. Altogether, the coalition with Fadhila would muster close to 100 seats, putting it within striking distance of a new majority coalition that could unseat Prime Minister Maliki.

According to Iraqi sources, the new coalition is attempting to organize what they call a "National Salvation Front," that would include not only the above parties but also Muqtada al-Sadr's bloc, which has 35 seats in parliament.