Bush Administration Backpedals From Its Public ‘Confidence’ In Maliki
Bush Administration Backpedals From Its Public ‘Confidence’ In Maliki
Iraq’s political crisis is worsening as Sunni ministers have completely abandoned the government. Allegations have long persisted about Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s connections to Shiite militias, and regime is quickly crumbling from a lack of political effectiveness.
But Maliki continues to remain in power, largely propped up with the “confidence” and support of President Bush:
Bush reaffirmed confidence in al-Maliki and said there were some signs of progress toward a unified government. “Yeah, I’ve got confidence in him, but I also understand how difficult it is.” [Bloomberg, 7/12/07]
Tony Snow: “What we’ll say on the record is, the President has confidence in Prime Minister Maliki.” [White House briefing, 11/29/06]
Megan O’Sullivan: “Both leaders talked about the Maliki government, with the President saying that he really has a lot of confidence in Maliki and he’s very pleased with how Maliki has performed over the last hundred days.” [White House briefing, 9/19/06]
Now it appears the Bush administration is allowing its confidence in Maliki to slip. At the State Department briefing this afternoon, spokesman Sean McCormack repeatedly refused to assert that the administration now has “confidence” in Maliki:
QUESTION: Do you still think that al-Maliki is the right guy to lead this…
MCCORMACK: He is the person that was elected by the Iraqi people. And it was decided upon among the leadership of the various political factions he would be the prime minister. [...]
QUESTION: But do you think — you’re not as vested in most places like you are in Iraq. So are you still confident in al- Maliki’s leadership?
MCCORMACK: Look, there’s a lot at stake, absolutely, for the Iraqi people, for the future of the Middle East. And Prime Minister Maliki is the person that was elected by the Iraqi people to lead Iraq. And we’re working closely with him. [...]
QUESTION: It’s kind of conspicuous that you’re not willing to say that you’re confident in him, even if you’re standing by his side.
MCCORMACK: You know, again, it’s not a matter of getting the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from the United States government or any other government. Ultimately, this government has to act on behalf of the Iraqi people.
The fact that the administration is backing away from Maliki is a concession that the premise of its “surge” strategy is failing. Back in January, when he first announced the escalation, Bush explained that purpose of increasing U.S. forces was to help advance Iraqi political transition and national reconciliation.
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August 6th, 2007 at 3:26 pmnext puppet……
August 6th, 2007 at 3:28 pmBeware of Bush’s confidence; it’s come back to bite many a person.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:29 pmIt should be interesting to see how BushCo handles this failure of the surge.
Get the popcorn!
August 6th, 2007 at 3:29 pmIf I remember correctly we went through several different prime ministers in South Vietnam as well. Primarily because they were either ineffective, or downright corrupt. I am going with the former on Maliki.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:31 pmBush’s entire plan for Iraq is collapsing, but Dubya will blame Democrats in Congress for the debacle.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:32 pmAh, let’s all blame the victim…… go
August 6th, 2007 at 3:33 pm“Look, there’s a lot at stake”
August 6th, 2007 at 3:33 pmMaliki is the metaphorical dead man walking.
Let’s see, is it time for the neo-conholes to dust of Ahmed Chalabi again? Or perhaps old CIA asset Iyad Allawi?
Perhaps Bush could appoint Tom Delay as head of a new CPA?
-GSD
August 6th, 2007 at 3:34 pmObama was right! Invade!
August 6th, 2007 at 3:37 pmwhats the issue? I don’t have confidence in either al-Maliki or Bush.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:37 pmObama was right! Invade!
Comment by r — August 6, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
Agreed!!!
August 6th, 2007 at 3:38 pmAs long as the Busheviks arm and finance the insurgents against Maliki, I guess it is probably a bit gauche to back him at the same time….
August 6th, 2007 at 3:39 pm#
Obama was right! Invade!
Comment by r — August 6, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
Agreed!!!
Comment by pyrrho — August 6, 2007 @ 3:38 pm
When you head down to enlist, just make sure you don’t wear your mommas’ best dresses.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:40 pmNEW
Fourth Largest Bloc Threatening to Withdraw From Government
Allawi Asks INL Ministers to Boycott Cabinet
August 6th, 2007 at 3:40 pmWhen you head down to enlist, just make sure you don’t wear your mommas’ best dresses.
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity — August 6, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
Why? Would that be a bad thing?
August 6th, 2007 at 3:43 pmCaption Contest:
Malaki: “Do I get a kiss? You gave King Fahd a real tonsil tickler, eh?”
August 6th, 2007 at 3:44 pm“Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval”…hmmm…I know that sounds familiar. It’s as if it is some sort of neocon talking point.
Quick, to the Google-mobile…
Yea, now I remember. It is neocon-speak for the Bush admin doesn’t care about you now.
Good luck, Mr Maliki. I would keep a helicopter fueled and waiting.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:44 pmMaliki is on his way out
5 Hours Ago
Allawi Asks INL Ministers to Boycott Cabinet
The INL is the largest fourth bloc in the Iraqi parliament with 24 out of a total 275
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In November 2006 the Sadrist Movement withdrew from the government in protest of the meeting between US President George W. Bush and al-Maliki.[1] This reduced the government’s majority to 211 out of 275 seats.
Iraqi Accord Front Withdrawal
August 6th, 2007 at 3:46 pmOn the 1st of August, the Iraqi Accord Front which consists of 44 members of the Parliament, withdrew from the Government. Al-Hashemi will remain vice-president.
Why? Would that be a bad thing?
Comment by r — August 6, 2007 @ 3:43 pm
Jes’ wanna make sure you actually make it into the army, so you can go fight for your country. I suggest you demand to be sent to Iraq!
August 6th, 2007 at 3:48 pmIsn’t this about the screw job to Iraq…… the signing of the oil contracts… 30% of Iraqi oil going to Iraq and 70% to the corporate oil? I would say, maybe, Bush is losing confidence this contract is going to be signed…. and to him that is winning the war on terror.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:51 pmIraqi Papers Mon – Maliki’s Last Dance
http://www.iraqslogger.com
August 6th, 2007 at 3:51 pmAlso Maliki is threatening Bush if he does not remove Petreus . then Maliki will arm the Shite militia
August 6th, 2007 at 3:52 pm“The ’surge’ clock must now be rewound for the new Iraqi Prime Minister.”
August 6th, 2007 at 3:53 pmSomeone fire up the Medal of Freedom forge! Looks like we might have an order coming in!
August 6th, 2007 at 3:54 pm“Isn’t this about the screw job to Iraq…… the signing of the oil contracts… 30% of Iraqi oil going to Iraq and 70% to the corporate oil? I would say, maybe, Bush is losing confidence this contract is going to be signed…. and to him that is winning the war on terror.
Comment by had enough — August 6, 2007 @ 3:51 pm”
Precicely!
- Shotty Construction work
- Forced labor to work on the Embasy
- Contracting out normal jobs the military performs, like cooking.
This is all a grab for as much money they can, and now the pie is crumbling and Bush is going to be seen for what he really is (finally to his supporters) that he is a CRIMINAL!!!! NOTHING ELSE!
Wasn’t there like 3 Maliki’s, and only ONE election???
August 6th, 2007 at 3:55 pmJust another sign that the insurgency is in its last throes.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:55 pmA Nail in Maliki Government’s Coffin?
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/
BAGHDAD, Aug 3 (IPS) – The recent resignations of Iraq’s Army Chief of Staff and several of his council military leaders underscore a continuing decomposition of Iraq’s U.S.-backed government.
Everybody in Iraq — politicians, political analysts, poets, scientists, porters – seems to agree that the U.S.-backed Iraqi government headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a total failure.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:55 pmAn Iraqi source said Maliki made the appeal to Bush through a video conference for Petraeus’s military strategy of arming Sunni tribal fighters to battle al-Qaeda to be abandoned.
“He told Bush that if Petraeus continues, he would arm Shia militias,” the official said. “Bush told Maliki to calm down.”
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/iraq/000620.php#more
August 6th, 2007 at 3:57 pmAnyway you parse it out, it ain’t goin’ well…
August 6th, 2007 at 3:59 pm“Bush told Maliki to calm down.â€
_________
The solution to the Iraqi problem.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:00 pmPrime Minister Maliki is secretary general of the al-Dawa Party, and was in exile in Iran after leading insurgent groups against former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
Relations between Maliki and U.S. officials have also collapsed. Last weekend the Daily Telegraph in London reported that relations between the top U.S. general in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and al-Maliki are so bad that the Iraqi leader made a direct appeal U.S. President to George Bush for removal of Petraeus.
An Iraqi source said Maliki made the appeal to Bush through a video conference for Petraeus’s military strategy of arming Sunni tribal fighters to battle al-Qaeda to be abandoned.
“He told Bush that if Petraeus continues, he would arm Shia militias,” the official said. “Bush told Maliki to calm down.”
Petraeus’s spokesman Col. Steve Boylan denied these reports, but evidence suggests that Maliki has been allowing Shia militias to arm themselves and control vast areas of Iraq for some time now.
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/
August 6th, 2007 at 4:01 pmBut, but the surge is working.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:02 pmWhat we need to find is a Sunni leader who is strong enough to hold the country together and secular enough to keep the fundamentalists in check. Oh wait …
August 6th, 2007 at 4:03 pmPoll: Iraqis Oppose Oil Privatization – Today
Iraqis oppose plans to open the country’s oilfields to foreign investment by a factor of two to one, according to a poll released today. Iraqis are united in this view: there are no ethnic, sectarian or geographical groups that prefer foreign companies.
http://www.priceofoil.org/
Friday August 3, 2007
Iraqi Oil Law Stalls Over the Summer
At last some good news from Baghdad. The Iraqi parliament has gone into summer recess without passing Iraq’s controversial and flawed oil law.
The Guardian reports that the “real reason why the Bush administration wanted the oil law rushed through was that it feared public discussion, and was worried that the more people understood what the law entails, the greater the chances of its defeat. Key parties in the Iraqi parliament oppose it, including the main Sunni party – which this week withdrew from government – as well as the Shia Sadrists and Fadhila.â€
Washington has promoted the law as a “reconciliation†issue, claiming its early passage would show that Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian communities could share revenues on a fair basis. But this is a trick. Only one of the law’s 43 articles mentions revenue-sharing, and then just to say that a separate “federal revenue law†will decide its distribution. The first draft of this other law only appeared in June, and it is clearly unreasonable to expect the Iraqi parliament to pass it in less than two months.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,2140859,00.html
August 6th, 2007 at 4:05 pmI don’t want hysteria. I wan’t details about how this is going to affect you, today, here and now.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:05 pmComment by O. Bigfoot — August 6, 2007 @ 2:37 pm
——————————————————————————
that’s the problem with you repukes!
it’s always ok as long as it doesn’t happen to you!!!
if you were in germany in the 1930, you would have had no problem at all, you nazi!
you would have said, “well, they’re just rounding up the unionists, the socialists and the communists. it has nothing to do with me!!!!â€
and you would be wrong!!!!!!!! this has everything to do with all americans!!!
if bushco doesn’t give the terrorists the benefit of the doubt, then do you honestly think that they treat hard working, real americans fairly!!! you are dishonest and you believe what america tells you!!!!!
try listening to the news outside of america, like al-jizzinereara! they tell you what’s really happening!!! and guess what?
the terrorists hate us!!! we invaded their country to kill them and steal their oil!!! that’s right… o. i. l.!!!!!!!!
it’s not ours, it belongs to the gangs of terrorists who know roam iraq killing people!!!
now the fascist’s at bushco want to kill terrorists that might be in the us!!!! and how are they going to do it!!!!!?!?!
they are going to use surveillance and other tools provided for them legally by the recent bills passed since 9 1 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the government could be listening to you right now!!!!!!!!!!
what if you get a call from islameosandibad?!?!?!?!
that black tinted van that isn’t parked out side might hull you away to a secret prison, and there you will be forced to watch someone piss on the koran, and flush it down the toilet!!!!!!!
for me, that means the whole country is going down the toilet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wasn’t there like 3 Maliki’s, and only ONE election???
Comment by RemoveBush — August 6, 2007 @ 3:55 pm
Hmmm… were you thinking of the 3 Mustaphas?
August 6th, 2007 at 4:05 pm#
What we need to find is a Sunni leader who is strong enough to hold the country together and secular enough to keep the fundamentalists in check. Oh wait …
Comment by Paul — August 6, 2007 @ 4:03 pm
#
Also, aside from the blatantly obvious problem to which you were referring, there are no Sunnis who want to be part of Iraq’s government.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:06 pmthere are no Sunnis who want to be part of Iraq’s government.
Comment by Chris L — August 6, 2007 @ 4:06 pm
Well, seeing how many GOOPers are going to be out of job in Jan 2009, perhaps they would consider moving to Iraq and becoming the new gov.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:08 pm“Hmmm… were you thinking of the 3 Mustaphas?
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity — August 6, 2007 @ 4:05 pm”
I’m not sure…..
I remember there being 3 Malaki’s and only one election…….
I’ll do some research and get back to you, hopefully.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:11 pmBackpedal-also known as FLIP-FLOP.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:11 pm“Backpedal” – it is what you do to stop your bicycle.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:13 pmBush Administration Backpedals From Its Public ‘Confidence’ In Maliki
____________
And all along I thought the Bush Administration was made up of “confidence” men.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:15 pmIf I remember correctly we went through several different prime ministers in South Vietnam as well. Primarily because they were either ineffective, or downright corrupt. I am going with the former on Maliki.
Comment by Krazny
Actually, they had an unfortunate way of being removed and executed. A fairly creepy pair of corrupt autocrats, brothers, were the victims of a coup in 1963. Later succeeded by another pair of charmers, Thieu and Ky (involved in the opium trade).
August 6th, 2007 at 4:17 pmLets not forget the women who referred to the Bhuddist monk who set himself afire as a “barbecue”. I think she was the wife of one of those dictators.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:22 pmIt doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the Republican pro-death policies are doomed to failure. Heckuva job, Bush.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:24 pmPerfect. Even better than in my dreams! Praise Allah for GWB.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:27 pmChimpy doesn’t know whether to shit or wind his watch.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:29 pmI’ll do some research and get back to you, hopefully.
Comment by RemoveBush — August 6, 2007 @ 4:11 pm
Sorry… the 3 Mustaphas were a decent little band about 15 yrs ago. An attmepts at being a wiseass on my part. (I thought someone might recognize the name…)
August 6th, 2007 at 4:30 pmChimpy doesn’t know whether to shit or wind his watch.
Comment by Pat — August 6, 2007 @ 4:29 pm
I’m betting that Chimpy doesn’t wear a wind-up watch — they were afraid of him swallowing little moving parts.
The sad thing is, even without that conundrum to paralyze his mind, he STILL doesn’t know whether to sh!t.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:33 pm#45
Actually the follow-on to my statement in #43 is:
“So he shit on his watch”.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:35 pmYet one more rising star shot down in flames because they associated with Shrub. Look at the long line of Generals, FEMA, and now Maliki.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:41 pmWHat find so absurd is that the BushCo can even pretend to pass judgment on the Iraqi government. This from the mismanagement of NOLA, the inability to rebuild the basic infrastructure in Iraq, to find and capture OBL, not to mention the “issuing” of about 100, 000 weapons to our enemy and “misplacing” about $5 billion, more or less. At least Iraq has had legal elections, which is one step beyond where we are at the moment.
So putting any stock in what this WH AssKlown Flying Circus says is laughable.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:45 pmAs if a sense of shame has ever stopped any of these criminals.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:56 pmWhen the Bush administration can no longer support the Iraqi government that it installed, I’d say that’s a pretty d@mn good indicator that it’s time to get the hell out of dodge…
August 6th, 2007 at 5:47 pmTrolls whats the talking points on this one? I love it how you clowns stay away from any thread thats totally indefensible..
August 6th, 2007 at 7:07 pmThey are backpedaling from Mailiki for ineffectiveness.
August 6th, 2007 at 7:12 pmHe heard from Karzai today that the Iran is his ally.
You’ve all heard of the Midas touch in turning everything to gold –
we have the Bush touch, turning everything to sh**.
Stay the course
August 6th, 2007 at 7:25 pm17 troops dead this month in 6 days so far
if you support this war anymore – your equally as guilty as BUSH and should shut the F()ck up -
August 6th, 2007 at 7:33 pmOut of Iraq – GENERAL STRIKE SEPT. 11th!
Buy nothing – do nothing – be you banker, baker, candle-stick maker. Stay home, go to the park. Bring this country to a standstill!
BE HEARD! Pass it on.
August 6th, 2007 at 8:09 pmTobey
August 6th, 2007 at 9:16 pmThank you for that sober reminder of the evil that is the Bush administration and the callousness of those who support them.
Maliki is politically ineffective because he refuses to make the political progress necessary. The surge was supposed to give him enough breathing room to make this political progress which Bush has so far refused to push him on. Setting a date for withdrawal of troops would put the pressure on Maliki to achieve the political progress he has so far refused to make. This administration can no longer show confidence in Maliki because they realize they can’t really improve the situation in Iraq as things stand now. If they don’t think Maliki can make the political improvements then the whole premise of the surge has fallen flat.
August 6th, 2007 at 11:47 pmSpeaking of U.S. relations with the Iraqi government, look at what Defense Secretary Robert Gates has to say on ‘Meet The Press’
VIDEO
August 7th, 2007 at 10:45 amhttp://beta.redlasso.com/Community/ClipPlayer.aspx?i=43687bf9-4c8d-4ea9-a421-9ab1158ba2f2