With Friends Like These, Who Needs Bush

With the US amping the pressure on Iraqi’s Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, tensions in the relationship have started to show. Just last week, al-Maliki, indicated that he was able to find friends elsewhere. This came in response to a snub by President George Bush. And we all know where those friends lie. The comment was made while al-Maliki was visiting Syria, and comes at a time when Bush has already warned the Iraqi Prime Minister of his relationship with Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

To top things off, al-Maliki is getting in a rift with a couple of US Senators, Levin and Clinton (Clinton’s the big surprise here - considering she’s the one that claims experience in watching her words). In a dig squarely directed at Clinton, al-Maliki alluded that Iraq was not just another one of their villages.

If all of this makes little sense, it’s because it doesn’t. The US can’t push democracy, and then, when it doesn’t work say, “Oops, we need a different form of government”. If the original election wasn’t a sham, then it’s valid, and it’s up to the Iraqis to sort out their own turf.