Stay the Course

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a horrible hack playing a dangerous game with his country's security.

Al-Maliki has been pressing the U.S. to move more quickly to hand security affairs over to his army, claiming it could crush violence in the country within six months. Abizaid apparently called al-Maliki's bluff by asking the prime minister to give a detailed explanation of how he would do that. The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, recently said it would take 12 to 18 months before Iraqi security forces were ready to control the whole country with some U.S. backup.

Good for Abizaid calling al-Maliki's bluff. I don't know who al-Maliki thinks he's impressing. The United States leaves and he's going to be on a plane out of the country. The Iraqi people, the Pentagon, or insurgents don't take al-Maliki's bluster seriously.

It appears the White House and Pentagon are the ones making demands. Abizaid told al-Maliki to disband the Shiite militias. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley met al-Maliki without announcing he was even coming. Ditto for National Intelligence Director John Negroponte. All indications are that there is a full court press on for al-Maliki to get his shit together.

The problem with Abizaid's demand is no one controls the militias. There is growing evidence that Muqtada al-Sadr no longer controls his militia followers.

It's about time that the White House put pressure on the Iraqi government to handle their security matters. The problem is the Iraqi govenment is too corrupt. Much of the looted government money ends up with the insurgency.

Many government workers also lack the skills to manage funds, Mr Bowen said.

"This money that's stolen doesn't merely enrich criminals," Mr Bowen said.

"(It) frequently goes out to fund criminal militias or insurgents. That means lost lives for US troops."

Why deal with all this when we can stay the course.