America's Weakest Link in Iraq

[gulliver]

Bush placed much of the reliance for a successful outcome of his proposed "troop surge" strategy on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. That is questionable on its face because al-Maliki is a proven weak link. Moreover, relying on al-Maliki is breathtakingly paradoxical and ironic, because al-Maliki said at the last summit with Bush that Iraq would be ready to take over its own security by June, 2007. So if al-Maliki is so reliable, why do we need a surge?

Bush had a summit with al-Maliki at the end of November. They met in Jordan and had a post-summit press conference. al-Maliki said Iraq would be ready to take over security in six months.

"I can say that Iraqi forces will be ready, fully ready to receive this command and to command its own forces, and I can tell you that by next June our forces will be ready," al-Maliki said in an interview with ABC News.

(Ed. Note: I apologize for the Fox "News" link. There are others available, but I chose the Fox "News" link specifically for the contrast it brings. As I have said before, Fox "News" can't really be considered a news source. For those who want a more reliable link, here is one at the Washington Post.)

Bush said al-Maliki was "the right guy for Iraq." Yet here is "the right guy for Iraq" with Iran's loony hard-line president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad two-day meeting in Tehran in September, 2006.



What did al-Maliki and Ahmadinejad talk about for two days?

And then there is Muqtada al-Sadr. When Saddam Hussein was handed over for execution by al-Maliki, people in the audience at the hanging shouted "Muqtada Sadr!" George W. Bush's "right guy" al-Maliki handed Saddam Hussein over to people who support Muqtada al-Sadr. Yet Bush expects al-Maliki to reign in sectarian militias.

Al-Maliki is a weak link in Iraq, no question. But ultimately it should be becoming clear that America's weakest link in Iraq is not al-Maliki. Nor was Ahmed Chalabi the weakest link, nor Ayad Allawi. As things keep getting worse and failure mounts there is one glaring common factor: President George W. Bush. Look no further for the weakest link.

(On edit: Corrected date information for Bush/al-Maliki summit.)

[KharmaTrain]

1. Where's Our Buddy Chalabi....

Anyone seen that worm lately?

[Sal Minella]

2. Wasn't he appointed head of the Iraq Oil Ministry?

By whom, I don't know -- but I'd bet he's collecting retirement funds from both the U.S. oil interests and the Iraqi players.

IIRC Chalabi was collecting $350,000 a month for "intelligence" supplied to the U.S. but the payments were stopped abruptly when somebody realized he was making things up out of thin air.....

[rustydad]

3. Surge

The surge is to provide more and fresher troops to hold our new military bases and the green zone when we start bombing Iran and likely Syria. The neocon plan is to have Israeli subs torpedo American warships in the Gulf, blamed on Iran, and then all hell breaks loose. The Sh ia will go bonkers in Iraq. The US will pull out of the cities and hunker down in the bases. Iraq will descend into full civil war. Then we see if the nukes fly. If so the end of the world as we know it may be at hand. But lets hope the adults stop this madness before it gets out of hand. Bob