We think he said those things because he can't be seen as alienating his fellow Shiites. It's all political. One of the Iraqis said Maliki would be slammed no matter what he said, so he's trying to play it safe.
However, the reason he is in and Jaafari is out is because Jaafari's ties to Sadr and Iran were too close. This kind of stuff could get Maliki into trouble. He's on a slippery slope with this. I don't envy him, that's for sure.
I wouldn't be surprised if he received a phone call from President Bush or Condi Rice or someone high level about these remarks.
And we'd probably never hear about it.
Thanks for that explanation...I was wondering the same thing...
However, I would also like to ask Al-Maliki how he expects the American troops to help him clean up Baghdad if that who section of town, Sadr City, is considered off limits??
Notice that after his remarks...the violence went UP in Baghdad...
I think al-Maliki better get on TV or something and spell out to the citizens of Baghdad exactly was is expected of them..and any that aren't playing by the "new" rules will be subject to Iraqi and US military "justice".
I think that is very true. Maliki may be between a rock and a hard place, but if the American public starts to perceive that he is supportive of terrorists such as Hezbollah, dismissive of the US sacrifices in Iraq and a positive stumbling block to our efforts to route out the bad guys, opinion here that is currently supportive of the Iraq campaign will spin on a dime.
Hi, Allegra. You're probably sleeping by now (hope so). I'm just on lunch break myself. Anyway, thanks for the reply. I pretty much figured it was all "political" but still... I'll follow up this evening or maybe I'll skip over to tomorrow's thread.