[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

That location might be a hidden message for Malicki and the Shia’s running the current government also!

[vbmoneyspender]

Personally, I think the criticism of Malicki has been a little bit unfair. The Sunnis were the ones who started the insurgency and it was asking alot of the Shiites to hold their responsive fire, which they did until Al Qaeda blew up the Golden Mosque. After that the Sunnis got a little taste of what might happen if they kept pushing the Shiites. So if we are going to point fingers, they should largely be pointed at the Sunnis, who killed tens of thousands of Shiites in the years leading up to the war - and didn’t stop afterwards.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

“War-Council” makes me think of Iran.

[Marine_Uncle]

You could be right. However let us be reminded that al-Asad is crawling with Marines. That is their HQ for al Anbar operations. And the flight line and landing (LSL Zone) would be very safe.
But as you hint, it forced Maliki to come up to al Anbar for a visit.