[NYTr] Crisis in the Green Zone: Maliki's Blast at US Bad News for Bush

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

The Guardian via Info Clearing House - Aug 22, 2007
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18232.htm


Crisis in the Green Zone

Nuri al-Maliki's outburst against US criticism is bad news for George
Bush, whose political project for Iraq now looks more fragile than
ever. 

By Jonathan Steele

The bad news from Iraq continues to grow for George Bush. First, a
Blackhawk goes down, taking the lives of 14 hapless soldiers and
crewmen. It is not the worst chopper disaster since the invasion, but
it bumps the death toll of US personnel closer to the 4,000 mark.

Next comes the Iraqi prime minister, angrily announcing that "no one
has the right to place timetables on the Iraq government. It was
elected by its people." In two sentences Bush's "benchmarks" have been
tossed out of the window. These were the signs of political progress in
Iraq that the White House wants to put in its report to Congress next
month.

Nuri al-Maliki's outburst follows public comments from Bush expressing
frustration with the Iraqi government, and hinting that it may be
replaced. Maliki knew Bush was putting him under pressure to come up
with a series of measures that could match the military progress which
General David Petraeus will outline when he reports on the surge. It
was recently revealed that the Petraeus report will actually be drafted
by the White House, using input from the general that can then be spun.
But while Petraeus is a US government employee who is subject to the
disciplines of command and control, Maliki isn't. He's independent
enough to show his voters that he is not going to be dictated to by
foreigners, even though he is in fact their puppet, whose position
would collapse if the US left Iraq. The row symbolises the
contradiction of describing a government as sovereign when its country
is occupied.

Even before the latest spat between Maliki and Bush, the Iraqi prime
minister was in difficulty. Half his cabinet has gone. The main Sunni
members recently resigned, following a few months after the Shia
ministers loyal to the anti-occupation cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr. This
means that Maliki no longer has a guaranteed majority of supporters in
parliament if it comes to a no-confidence vote.

Like Bush, Maliki has become a lame duck. Bush of course can stay in
office for another 17 months. Maliki can also stagger on in charge of a
minority government, since no other Iraqi seems able or willing to put
a different coalition together. And, for all his tough talk about
seeing Maliki replaced, Bush is doomed to go on supporting him. A
vacuum in Baghdad would look even worse in American voters' eyes.

In one sense, the crisis only confirms what has been clear for months.
Whoever sits in the Green Zone in nominal charge of Iraq's government
has little power or authority beyond its walls. Bush's political
project for Iraq looks more fragile than ever.