"Iraq’s political process was unraveling faster than had been anticipated Saturday, with Sunni politicians walking out of the nation’s parliament and threatening to resign from the government even before the last U.S. troops had left the country.
The crisis was triggered by reports that security forces loyal to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, are planning to arrest the country’s Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, and charge him with terrorism.
Those reports have fueled fears among Sunni politicians that Maliki intends to further consolidate his grip on power by moving against his rivals now that U.S. troops have gone. In recent days, the homes of top Sunni politicians in the fortified Green Zone have been ringed by tanks and armored personnel carriers, and rumors are flying that arrest warrants will be issued for other Sunni leaders.
The mostly Sunni Iraqiya bloc said it had withdrawn from parliament to protest what it called Maliki’s increasingly dictatorial behavior. Sunni ministers in the coalition government will resign unless he gives them a greater say in running the government and, in particular, overseeing the country’s Shiite-dominated security forces, the bloc warned." Washpost
-------------------------------------
Here we go... GZC questions the notion that Maliki is an enemy of the US. I don't. He is an enemy of the United States. He is merely a clever enemy who told the gullible what they wanted to hear. Arab politicians are good at that, even better than American politicians.
He has us out of the way now and will act against those who are potential threats to consolidation of his and Shia Arab rule in Iraq. Does this make him a stooge of Iran? No, he was always an ally of Iran and one of several men competing for the Mullahs' favor.
I think that there is better than a 50% chance that Iraq will descend into greater and greater levels of inter-ethno-religous violence in the coming months. While that occurs the MSM will strain its "guts" to the maximum in trying to avoid calling this "civil war." pl
