Sadly, al-Maliki is the quintessinal 16th century Arab—all bluster and bombast and no substance beyond the perimeter of his tent or village. I expect we’ll go through a lot of these tribalists before we find one or two Iraqis with truly national and international visions. Taking out Sadr and his thugs will go far toward neutralizing al-Maliki and his ilk. It would be interesting to know if this poor excuse of a leader ever gets up enough courage to leave the Green Zone in Baghdad and visit the people he claims to love.
Not disputing most of your comment, but matter of factly Maliki has recently visited the now secured areas of Anbar and Diyala province (where most of the Sunni insurgency is/was taking place).
Well, it would be a short flight from the Green Zone to Sadr City...