Bending the Third Rail
Because We Should, We Can, We Do
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Not Healing In Iraq

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Seems that the rumor is that al-Maliki has some travel plans:
Baghdad is rife with the strangest rumours again chiefly as a result of the latest deployment of American troops around major Shi’ite districts in Baghdad, signaling a movement against Shi’ite militias. The rumours also seem to have penetrated the concrete barriers of the Green Zone where anxious Iraqi governmental officials are whispering about an impending American “coup,” and according to some well-connected Iraqis inside the Green Zone, several officials have made travel arrangements. This followed tensions over the last week between the U.S. and a defiant PM Maliki that were supposedly resolved yesterday with the joint Iraqi-American statement reaffirming U.S. support for the Iraqi government and the commitment of the Iraqi government to a timetable for disbanding militias. The heavy deployment of American troops along with elite Iraqi security forces that are not part of the Interior or the Defense ministries aggravated these fears.
Wouldn't surprise me in the least. Al-Maliki is trying to save his butt, not just his job. To do so means to piss off Bush and his 140,000 supporters in the green zone. I think I'd have travel plans too.

If you want a really clear eyed picture of the situation in Iraq, take a look at this interview in "Time" with Juan Cole. He outlines the Maliki dilemma and Maliki's "issue" with the United States.

The bottom line is and continues to be that Iraq is a confusing jumbled up mess of competing interests who are all very well armed and highly motivated. The resolution will only come after years, perhaps many years, of war.
Written at 1:33 PM by Greyhair.
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