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Your list is fine with me. And for the most part I would agree and or have no major objection(s).
It is not only the PM that is at issue but so many political appointments, and otherwise that simply have demonstrated their inability to govern effectively within the constraints this country now is faced with.
I have made allowance in my comments over the past half year or so, to include the possibility that Maliki is not a push over, but may actually be a clever politician who simply seeks peacefull dialog verse force.
And obviously, the majority of the military is composed of Shia. With of course divisional strength coming from the Kurds in the northern provinces.
One can with most probable safety assert that even their military forces is fragmented in it's loyalies
Iraq has no underlining common denominator to unite the people other then the cry for peace and stability for all Iraqi.
Most common folk are powerless to do anything about the violance other then to hide, or leave the country or locate to areas that are quiet as a churchmouse.
One key problem is he represents a one sided government for the most part, not a unity government.
Obviously one must examine the whole scenario. Which includes so many gottchas. He has been beholden to the very people that allowed him to assume the PM position, of course being dominated by the SCIRI,IDP,UIA, and lesser Shiite parties.
Guys like Ahmed Chalabi from the INC, Iyad Allawi from the INL, and say the IAF's Adnan Al-Dulamini (largest Sunni block) have been pretty much sidelined.
That is to be expected in the mix we are dealing with and the realities of who wants to maintain key power bases.
Further. Regardless of who leads, the facts remain there are people like Hakim and Sadr who will always work in the background to get what they want and use the advantage/threat of their large and well organized militias.
Then we have the normal scenario of corrupt political institutions. The oil, interior, education and health ministries have so many thieves and sectarian oriented people running things it is a wonder Iraq has not fallen apart at this point.
In short. They obviously need time to stabilize in a number of ways. I just hope Maliki turns out to be a fair leader, where he can somehow unite the majority of Iraqi under one umbrella.
But as we observe, he is not viewed as a strong and determined leader such as say Allawi is.
If it where not for their method of voting, Allawi would have been given a second chance to bring down the insurgency and the sectarian violance as well as finding the best people to operate key ministry posts.
As for their trumatized state, I agree in full. Under Saddam and his predessors most Iraqi knew where they stood. If they where amongst the Baathist, then all was well. The Shia just went along with things since death was the most likely alternative.
The whole Iraqi (British spawned protectoriate) experiment has been at odds with real word realities for a long time.
Saddam stepped in with his band of henchmen and took advantage of what was inevitable. Now however, things are a bit sticky.
They do need time to add two and two together and then choose what paths they want to follow. The new experiment is in it's infancy.