Is this the government we're fighting for?

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ: A DAY OF MORE VIOLENCE; A BELEAGUERED PRIME MINISTER

Iraq's leader can't get out of 1st gear

By Ned Parker, L.A. Times Staff Writer

June 6, 2007

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and Tariq Hashimi, the country's Sunni vice president, faced each other across the room as the latter spoke angrily of the bad blood between Sunni and Shiite officials.

A hush fell over the room as Hashimi demanded to know whether the prime minister had been accusing his political bloc of being infiltrated by terrorists.

"Are you talking about us? If you are … we would ask for proof," said Hashimi, according to his account of a recent closed-door meeting of Iraq's top political and national security officials. "I am treated as an opponent," he said, his voice rising. "If you continue treating me like this, it is better for me to quit."

Maliki sat in silence.

Iraq's government is teetering on the edge. Maliki's Cabinet is filled with officials who are deeply estranged from one another and more loyal to their parties than to the government as a whole. Some are jostling to unseat the prime minister. Few, if any, have accepted the basic premise of a government whose power is shared among each of Iraq's warring sects and ethnic groups.

The article is here. Thanks to Minnesota Central for the heads up. He comments: "And if reading that dissection of the Iraqi leadership, consider this report that the Iraqi Parliament passed a resolution demanding say in any extension of US-led forces:"

The effort mirrors U.S. President George W. Bush's rivalry with the Democratic-led Congress, which has urged the administration to begin bringing American troops home....

The Sadrist-drafted resolution passed with a vote of 85 to 59. Only 144 of the 275 members of the Iraqi parliament were present but that was enough for a quorum....

The Sunni Accordance Front supported the measure, along with the Sadrists and members of the Fadhila party, which recently withdrew from the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance.

"This was the first step in implementing our political goal which is the withdrawal of the occupation forces," Sadrist lawmaker Nassir al-Issawi said.

Minnesota Central concludes: "The tragedy is that everyone says that Iraq cannot be settled militarily, but only politically ... and it appears that there is a leadership vacuum in Iraq and by Condi Rice's State Department."