Withdraw Showdown?

Looks like Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki can't stand success.

A key aide says Maliki's relations with U.S. commander General Petraeus are so poor that Maliki may ask Washington to withdraw.... the troops?..... they're ready to take over?...... no, to withdraw Petraeus from his Baghdad post. "Heat Rises Between Iraq PM and Petraeus." (WaPo)

Seems like Maliki doesn't like the successful tactic employed by Petraeus of enlisting Sunni militants in the fight against al-Qaeda.

Iraq Foreign Minister Zebari told Newsweek magazine that Maliki told him he threatened Bush that he would counter this tactic by arming Shiite militias, and "Bush told Maliki to calm down."

One thing our Texas "Bring it on" nacho-man does recognize.... shooting from the lip.

"Petraeus, meanwhile, must deal with an Iraqi military and police force, nominally under Maliki's control, that often acts out of sectarian, namely Shiite, interests, and not national Iraqi interests. He faces a significant challenge in persuading Maliki to shed his ties to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who runs the Mahdi Army militia."

Hopefully, the Petraeus, "neighborhood watch with teeth" will level the Iraq playing field for the tribal Sunnis being overwhelmed on two fronts... al Qaeda and the Shiite militia.

As Shiite Iran-favoring Maliki lodges his objections to the Petraeus' Sunni initiative, he at the same time is dragging his feet on an oil-industry law and other legislation critical to meet U.S. benchmarks.

It's increasingly clear.... the U.S. needs to withdraw.... their support of Maliki.

Iraq... All Progress is Local

If it really bothered you that the Iraqi government took the month of August off while our troops sweltered in the 103 degree heat trying to keep a lid on the violence, this latest bit of information should send you running for the Maalox.

The New York Times headline spells out the latest outrage by President Maliki's government.... "As U.S. Rebuilds, Iraq Won't Act on Finished Work."

Yes, that's right. "Iraq's national government is refusing to take possession of thousands of American-financed [U.S. taxpayer] reconstruction projects.

"Of the 2,797 completed projects costing $5.8 billion [of the total $21 billion rebuilding program], Iraq's national government had, by the spring of this year, accepted only 435 projects valued at $501 million."

Why?

Like everything in Iraq the answer is complex. Few transfers have taken place since the current Shiite-led Iraqi government, which drags its feet on American intervention, took office in 2006 along with the new finance minister, Bayan Jabr, and under his watch the "transfer process ceased to function."

Jabr isn't a good guy. In his previous post as interior minister he was accused of running Shiite death squads out of the ministry. In his current position he is slow to release budget money to Iraqi government entities which would have to run the new projects at substantial expense.

Also, the imperialist Bush administration didn't get Iraqis involved in the planning stages of the projects, so "you end up with these kinds of problems at the tail end, where people don't know much about the program and they haven't bought into it."

So, finished projects are falling into disrepair as they stand idle, or unable to function because locals don't have the money, or training, to keep them running.

In the meantime, the Maliki regime ignores the concerns of Iraq's non-Shiites. "Maliki Aide Lashes Out Over Sunni Demands." (WaPo)

The Sunni Accordance Front announced Wednesday that its six ministers in Maliki's cabinet would quit the government permanently unless the prime minister made significant progress on its list of demands.

Demands such as.... a greater role in security matters.... removal of militia members from Iraqi security forces.... and release of thousands of its members believed to be unjustly imprisoned.

Maliki's aide dismissed the demands saying the group is using threats, pressure and blackmail and leaves little doubt Maliki will not comply with their demands before Wednesday's deadline.

The answer to many of these problems seems obvious, we need to regionalize Iraq so each faction has its own land and equal standing. Stop trying to prop up a government more intent on throwing up roadblocks and increasing the Shiite grip on power than on finding ways to cooperate with the different factions and U.S. efforts at rebuilding.

A case in point where this approach is working, "U.S. Widens Push to Use Armed Iraqi Residents.... Irregulars to Patrol Own Neighborhoods." (WaPo)

"The U.S. military in Iraq is expanding its efforts to recruit and fund armed Sunni residents as local protection forces.... The initiative, which extends to all Iraqis, represents at least a temporary departure from the established U.S. policy of building formally trained security forces under the control of the Iraqi government."

Perhaps the most fruitful result of this new.... though Gen. Petraeus insists temporary.... security plan is that the Sunnis are more than willing to clear their neighborhoods of al-Qaeda forces.

Of course this plan is working.... because people are invested in their own neighborhoods.

Just as they would be in the expensive rebuilding projects in their neighborhood if they were given the training and support needed, instead of waiting on a reluctant , and nearly nonfunctioning, Maliki government to do the job.

Sen. Joseph Biden's federalization plan for Iraq seems like a no-brainer. It's a Way Forward in Iraq that will build on regional strengths, investing in all of the Iraqi people, not just the Iran-favored Shiite central government.

But then, when it comes to The Decider's seat-of-the-pants ideological and rigid political agenda, brains play no part in the equation.

Will Someone Wake Me Up?

Here's the nightmare.... al Qaeda is Sunni. Saudi Arabia is Sunni... and supposedly our friends, even though Osama bin Laden and most of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudi nationals.

Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's powerful Mahdi Army is a Shiite militia. Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is Shiite. Iran is majority Shiite.

Shiite militia has been infiltrating Iraqi police units, and the Iraq military.

"Mahdi Army, Not Al-Qaeda, is Enemy No. 1 in Western Baghdad." It's no longer the case that the "Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq is the city's most formidable, the Mahdi Army has transformed the composition of the district's neighborhoods by ruthlessly killing and driving out Sunnis...." (WaPo)

There has been an ethnic cleansing of Sunnis in the 10-square mile district of West Rashid, home to about 700,000.... the Shiites have taken over.

The Shiites already control Iraq in the east on the Iran border, and in the south.

Although the bloody toll continues to rise in attacks across Baghdad, and in the Kurdish north, we heard Maliki assert on Saturday that Iraqis were ready to take over security operations "any time" American forces choose to leave.

How?.... because the Shiite militias with Iran's help will be the ones taking over, with Maliki's blessing?

Oh sure, today we hear lots of backtracking and explaining by Maliki over his comment, and not unsurprising really, the main thrust of his clarification is a defense of al-Sadr as being good for Iraq. Is anyone in Washington listening to this?

Meanwhile, our troops are still dying in the 103 degree heat while the Iraqi government takes an August vacation. So, between now the the September report from Gen. Petraeus, nothing much will happen from Maliki's government to bring the factions together, there will be more cleansing, and the Shiites will grow even stronger.

And, the Sunni al-Qaeda.... "Pakistan Truce Appears Defunct." (WaPo) A peace deal between the Pakistani government and tribal leaders in the north where al-Qaeda is known to be regrouping is over. Last weekend, 70 mainly soldiers and police were killed after the Taliban fighters announced an all-out guerrilla war against the Parkistan army.

So, this is the effect of what Bush and Cheney have wrought with their misbegotten Middle East adventure.... they are handing Iraq to the Shiites, and thus to Iran, while al-Qaeda is gathering strength in Pakistan.... a country with nuclear weapons and a weakened President Musharraf.

It's too late for what they should have done after 9/11.... gone after Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and made THAT country a bastion of freedom from terror.

What we should be doing now is strengthening our own borders and ports, and aggressively rebuilding our military.... not because Homeland Security's chief Chertoff's gut is rumbling.... but because while we're over there, the terrorists will show up here, "Big Time."