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And it's in our national interest whether or not Iraq's government is good or awful in our opinion.

If the only way we're ever going to get out of here is when the Iraqi gov't can stand on its own two feet, then how is Maliki helping anything here? Basically, he and other supporters of the strategy are advocating an unlimited stay here. That's completely unacceptable.

On the contrary, he is now calculating that we will leave. He is incensed that Petraeus has sided with the Sunnis in recent months, to make progress on the "surge" and to try to pressure Maliki into making concessions to the Sunnis to bring about a largely mythical "national reconciliation". Maliki believes the Sunni will not accept their loss of power, other than through outright defeat. So he plans to win the coming civil war with Iranian backing and with Sadr, rather than US backing.

If the only way we're ever going to get out of here is when the Iraqi gov't can stand on its own two feet, then how is Maliki helping anything here?

Maybe he's not. Never said he was. What I said was that it doesn't matter, or shouldn't, because we are there for our national interest, not his. If he's helping, great! If he's not, doesn't matter; our national interest still requires preventing Iraq from becoming a full-on terror haven. Maybe he's a traingulator or even an obstacle rather than an ally and that certainly affects the difficulty of our task, but it doesn't change our task. Why would it?

Please try to help me understand the logic: if Maliki doesn't do everything we want, then it's.... okay if Iraq becomes an AQ haven? and that's why we should pull out? Then what?

Basically, he and other supporters of the strategy are advocating an unlimited stay here.

I think you misread grossly, he is neither a "supporter of the strategy" per se nor is he advocating the US military stay there in perpetuity. Almost the opposite; as others have pointed out, a better interpretation is that he is now preparing for our exit, because he deems it inevitable and pending. And I'm not sure he's wrong to think so.