Al-Sadr's threat convinces Maliki to cancel dinner with Bush

Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki has snubbed President Bush.  Caving into the demands of Shiite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr -- who pledged to topple the Iraqi government if Maliki met with Bush today -- the dinner has been rescheduled to tomorrow.

This comes on the heels of a memo from National Security Stephen Hadley that was leaked to the New York Times and published today.  The memo doubted that Maliki has a very good "interpretation of reality", and even suggested that Maliki might be "ignorant" of what is going on outside his heavily fortified bubble.  Therefore, the postponement of this event may have had something to do with the memo.  For the most part, however, Maliki was probably caving into the demands of al-Sadr's militia.  It goes to show who is really in control in Iraq.

The White House gave a pathetic excuse as to why Maliki and Bush didn't meet:

"Since the King of Jordan and the prime minister had a bilateralthemselves earlier today, everyone believed that it negated the purposeof the three of them to meet tonight together in a trilateral setting,"Dan Bartlett, White House counsellor, told reporters.

That makes absolutely no sense.  As I wrote on Sunday, the next ten days would be crucial in terms of Iraq's future.  Already, we are seeing the breakdown of relations between Bush and Maliki, as well as the increased influence of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi militia.

Iraq is going nowhere but south, and our young troops are caught in the middle of a failed policy.

Comments

[Priest]

Well he actually did dine with the President.............

That a new play with support to play Miliki against Sadr.............Billiant......