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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Monday, August 20, 2007

Calling for the overthrow of Maliki?

I saw the excerpts of Sen. Levin criticizing the Iraq strategy and troop surge, but did he really call on the Iraqi assembly to throw Maliki out as reported in this AP story?
In a joint statement Monday, Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., said that while the military buildup has "produced some credible and positive results," the political outlook is darker. The senators said that during their visit to Iraq last week they told Iraqi leaders of American impatience with the lack of political progress, and "impressed upon them that time has run out in that regard."

In a separate telephone interview with reporters, Levin urged the Iraqi assembly to oust Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and replace his government with one that is less sectarian and more unifying.....

In response to Levin's remarks about dumping al-Maliki, Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council, noted that Iraqi leaders have been holding talks in recent days on ways to move toward a unified government.

Maybe the notable thing in this is that the White House's first response wasn't to jump to attack, but instead to say, "we're working on something different to change the government."

Is there a much clearer declaration that the age of Maliki is over?

(Later: The NYTimes and WaPo have more.)

More: BostonGlobe has a bit about US efforts to prop up Maliki.
That has led some analysts to question the diplomatic efforts of Crocker and O'Sullivan.

"Meghan O'Sullivan has been there doing negotiations for several days, and all they can come up with is this tiny group" of parties to back Maliki, said Reidar Visser, a historian who edits the Iraq-focused website historiae.org.

Suzanne Maloney, a former State Department official who followed internal discussion about Maliki, said that Iraqi politicians appear to preparing for a "post-Maliki future," anticipating his downfall.


As I've been saying for months, the Iraqis themselves gave up on Maliki months ago and have been preparing for a post-Maliki Iraq. US efforts to prop him up have wasted what little US influence was left.

5 Comments:

  • It could just be fatigue. Bush is getting it from all sides now. British withdrawal, expansion of the OSC, Ahmedinajad visiting Iraq, stock market collapse, Rove and Snow leaving.....he may be wishing he hadn't got in so deep.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:46 PM  

  • Should we be at all surprised when Al-Maliki's security detail "slips up" any day now and he gets killed? Allawi will bravely step up to the plate and Bush will back him. Of course, we'll have to give Allawi "time" to get the country back on course, so this will serve as the newest stall on passing judgment on the occupation.
    I could see our military or Special Forces doing a hit on Al-Maliki themselves without Bush's order and portraying it as Al-Qaeda.

    By Blogger Todd Dugdale , at 10:07 PM  

  • Anon, maybe. It's also a response from the NSC and not the political or "spokesman" group in the White House, but I think that gives it a bit of revealing truth.

    And, I'm quite sure that Bush is wishing he hadn't yoked himself to Maliki. There was that brief period around the Hadley memo last year when the idea of a different coalition was floated, but instead Bush chose to "look into Maliki's soul."

    His judgement on people is just awful.

    ....

    Todd, A "Diem moment" is a possibility. The only problem with your scenario is the politics at home. At this point, even the slightest step towards chaos would seem to knock the last leg from the precarious war support.

    (And, despite the US and Allawi's desire for him to be PM, I just don't think Iraqis would accept it.)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 8:03 AM  

  • "His judgement on people is just awful."

    So true. Look at his VP.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:29 AM  

  • Cheney is the biggest one, but there's also Michael Brown, Putin, Mexico, Musharraf, the Saudis, putting Condi Rice in over her head....

    He keeps thinking he is some divine judge of character, but he's often off.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 1:40 PM  

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