It's Election Season In America

The [Arabic language] account of Nouri al-Maliki's remarks at the Iraqi embassy in London yesterday summarised below would be hilarious if the situation in Iraq weren't so bad. One has to wonder who Maliki's remarks were directed at. When I started to write this posting: Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, had urged the creation of "people's committees." - If you think this sounds suspiciously like "Committee of Public Safety" you'd be right. Operation Forward Together" is acknowledged by politicians "close to" Maliki as having failed. In one of several attacks today in Baghdad alone A policeman was killed and three wounded when a roadside bomb targetting their patrol in the Zayouna district exploded. Attacks in the capital continued - there was a gun battle on Haifa Street in which six police officers were killed and 30 were wounded. In other attacks seven police and ten civilians were killed and that was attacks during the night on forces loyal to the green zone government in Central Baghdad alone. Today (again in Baghdad) alone three bombs exploded in the city, killing two civilians and a policeman and wounding many others. I haven't been able to get estimates of the casualties. Six other civilians were shot dead two of those were in drive-by shootings. There were mortar attacks. There was the usual crop tortured murder victims found by the roadside. And two US soldiers were killed in al-Anbar. Compare this with what Maliki said according al Zaman: According al Zaman's report he said that the talks in the White House will focus on the security situation, building the security apparatus in partnership with the multinational forces and creating the conditions in which an international effort to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure could take place. When questioned Maliki said that the matters that were bringing him to Washington were the forthcoming American electionsissues related to bilateral relations and that discussing a US withdrawal from Iraq with the EmperorAmerican president was necessary to reach an agreement on this all round. Referring to the security situation in Baghdad Maliki claimed that there had [recently] been very significant blows against those who control the "hotbeds of terrorism" and that because the terrororists could no longer hit the police and the army they had shifted their attacks towards the innocent in schools and markets. According to al Zaman Maliki claimed that the terrorists no longer have the capacity to confront the [Iraqi] police and army and that the priority now was to build an inteligence system to foil the suicide bombers and their backers. He went on to assure his interlocutors that the rehabilitation of the Iraqi police guaranteed the failure of terrorism. Maliki then went on to discuss the militias singling out the Badr brigades, the Mehdi army, and those groups that had infiltrated the petroleum ministry. He condemned their activities as illegal and stressed that it was imperative to reach a solution to the disarmament of militias. He also said that insurgent groups had expressed a willingness to join the poltical process, and that the war torn Iraq on the cusp of civil war portrayed in the media was not the reality. So to whom were al-Maliki's remarks directed? They weren't directed at his Iraqi compatriots that's for sure.What the article doesn't say (because it's already well-known by it's Iraqi readership) is that Maliki is isolated, and a "lame duck." His American minders, chief amongst them the American Viceroy Governor Ambassador prevent his own aides from having access to him, he's surrounded by about 40 American advisers and they control not only who can see him but the information he gets. Al Maliki's trip is for American domestic political consumption and for American domestic political consumption alone. It has nothing to do with the realities of the situation in Iraq. Nothing. While I was writing this (as I expected) the cynicism of the Bush administration in organising this trip, was matched by the wanton disregard of the Democrats for the lives of the Iraqi people and American troops in Iraq: "Your failure to condemn Hezbollah's aggression and recognize Israel's right to defend itself raise serious questions about whether Iraq, under your leadership, can play a constructive role in resolving the current crisis and bringing stability to the Middle East, ……… As you know, the American people have given so much in the name of fighting global terror and helping build a better future for the people of Iraq,……… [emphasis mine - mfi]" Iraq is boiling in blood, Israel has launched a war of domination against Lebanon and it's election season in America. God save the people of the Middle East. markfromireland