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Should Maliki Go?
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Issue
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Jan 05, 2007 01:28pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Weekly News Magazine - TIME Magazine |
| News Date | Friday, January 5, 2007 07:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | A growing number in Baghdad think so, and are hoping for a bold political stroke from the White House that would sweep the government from power
By MARK KUKIS/BAGHDAD
Posted Friday, Jan. 05, 2007
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq is a marked man. While, in public, President Bush has always expressed support for him, the White House has begun to signal its unease. Even Bush joined the chorus of voices condemning the way Maliki's government handled the execution of Saddam Hussein. And disagreements over strategy are becoming more apparent. For example, Maliki had pressed Bush to move U.S. troops from central Baghdad to the edge of the city, leaving the volatile downtown area in the hands of Iraq security forces. Instead, the White House's emerging strategy has most of a U.S. troops surge headed into downtown Baghdad.
The big card Maliki always held was his alliance with the political bloc led by Moqtada al-Sadr, the head of the Shi'a Mahdi militia. This includes 30 parliamentarians and six cabinet members. Maliki was seen as one person who might be able to exercise some sway over Sadr and his lawless sectarian army. But it became clear that influence flowed only one way between Sadr and Maliki in October, when U.S. forces seized Sadr aide Sheik Mazin al-Saedi, a suspected organizer of kidnapping rings and death squads. Maliki immediately called for Saedi's release, and the U.S. military complied. Killings were on the rise, and Maliki was working to help the leading murderers; Sadr's Mahdi Army dropped virtually all pretenses of restraint after the February bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra and went on the attack. |
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