Iraqi Government Slips Further Away From Reality

There is nothing but bad news from Iraq in this CNN article – Iraqi PM issues al-Sadr ultimatum amid Baghdad violence

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Three U.S. soldiers were killed and 31 others wounded in two rocket attacks Sunday afternoon in Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

An attack involving a “couple of rounds” of fire on the International Zone, also known as the Green Zone, killed two soldiers and wounded 17 others about 3:30 p.m., a military official said, declining to give the specific location of the attack for security reasons.

A separate attack about 30 minutes earlier killed one soldier and wounded 14 at a U.S. military outpost in Rustamiya in southeastern Baghdad, the military said.

Sunday’s fatalities bring the death toll of U.S. troops in the Iraq war to 4,022. Nearly 30,000 others have been wounded in action.
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Sunday’s fighting came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded al-Sadr disband his Mehdi Army and threatened to bar al-Sadr’s followers from the political process if the cleric refused.

“A decision was taken yesterday that they no longer have a right to participate in the political process or take part in the upcoming elections unless they end the Mehdi Army,” al-Maliki said.

A spokesman for al-Sadr, Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, said that any effort to bar Sadrists from participation in politics would be unconstitutional — and that any decision to disband the Mehdi Army is not the government’s to make.
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Asked about Iran’s role in ending the Basra conflict, al-Maliki attributed the cease-fire to the work of his security forces. Haidar al-Abadi, an Iraqi lawmaker who belongs to al-Maliki’s Dawa Party, said last week that Iranian officials participated in the discussions, and another source close to the talks said the Iranians pressured al-Sadr to craft an agreement.

“I am not aware of such an attempt,” al-Maliki said Sunday. “What happened on the ground and the breakdown in the structure of this militia is what made Muqtada al-Sadr issue his statement to withdraw his militants from the streets. What happened was something to save Muqtada, not to help us.”

American troops are dying in the Green Zone, the most heavily defended place in Iraq.

The Iraqi Prime Minister refuses to acknowledge what happened as a result of his attacks on the Mahdi Army, and this will probably cause the second cease fire to disappear. Al Malaki has lost his connection to reality, and has gone all Shrubbery. He has slapped Iran in the face, and they aren’t likely to forget it, nor work very hard to save him when the going gets rough as he is apparently going to continue to attack the Sadrists.

If he doesn’t find that he “needs to go abroad shortly for medical treatment”, his next appointment will probably be with a pathologist. The question is how many Iraqis [and Americans] will die because one individual refuses to admit what happened?