The knives are out for al-Maliki

History does not bode well for the Iraqi PM, under pressure in the US, says alexander cockburn

As he heads for the office these days Nouri al-Maliki should bid his family especially tender farewells. If the patterns of US foreign policy are any guide, the Iraqi Prime Minister is a very poor insurance risk.

On Monday August 20 a leading Democratic senator, Carl Levin of Michigan and chairman of the Armed Services Committee returned from Iraq and declared publicly that Iraq's parliament should remove al-Maliki from power. "The Maliki government is non-functional," Levin declared, "and cannot produce a political settlement because it is too beholden to religious and sectarian leaders".

The next day Hillary Clinton went before the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and reiterated her senate colleague's call. She said that al-Maliki should be replaced by a "less divisive and more unifying figure."

The final grim news for al-Maliki came on

Hillary Clinton and other Democrats want to see a ‘less divisive and more unifying’ leader

Wednesday when President Bush affirmed confidence in the Prime Minister, declaring him to be a fine fellow.

Levin, Clinton and Bush all simultaneously declared that they believe the briefings of the United States military commanders in Iraq. They exult that the 'surge', advocated and presided over by General David Petraeus last winter, is now working. Baghdad is more secure. Casualties are down. The sectarian groupings in Iraq have been checked. Nation-building can proceed.

None of these chirpy bulletins has anything to do with the actual situation on the ground in Iraq, where the extremely hot summer months have seen a regular annual drop in activities by Iraq's resistance groups. Even so, car bombings in Baghdad in July were five per cent higher than before the 'surge' began and there has been a corresponding rise in civilian casualties from explosions. Meanwhile, there are graphic reports of the extreme exhaustion of US troops, forced into multiple tours and extended time on active duty because of the overall shortage in manpower and equipment.