Bush admin sinks deeper into Iraq quagmire, ignores Afghanistan

[ProSense]

Iraqis Consider Ways to Reduce Power of Cleric

By EDWARD WONG
Published: December 12, 2006

BAGHDAD, Dec. 11 — After discussions with the Bush administration, several of Iraq’s major political parties are in talks to form a coalition whose aim is to break the powerful influence of the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr within the government, senior Iraqi officials say.

The talks are taking place among the two main Kurdish groups, the most influential Sunni Arab party and an Iranian-backed Shiite party that has long sought to lead the government. They have invited Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to join them. But Mr. Maliki, a conservative Shiite who has close ties to Mr. Sadr, has held back for fear that the parties might be seeking to oust him, a Shiite legislator close to Mr. Maliki said.

Officials involved in the talks say their aim is not to undermine Mr. Maliki, but to isolate Mr. Sadr as well as firebrand Sunni Arab politicians inside the government. Mr. Sadr controls a militia with an estimated 60,000 fighters that has rebelled twice against the American military and is accused of widening the sectarian war with reprisal killings of Sunni Arabs.

The Americans, frustrated with Mr. Maliki’s political dependence on Mr. Sadr, appear to be working hard to help build the new coalition. President Bush met last week in the White House with Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Iranian-backed Shiite party, and is to meet on Tuesday with Tariq al-Hashemi, leader of the Sunni Arab party. In late November, Mr. Bush and his top aides met with leaders from Sunni countries in the Middle East to urge them to press moderate Sunni Arab Iraqis to support Mr. Maliki.

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Pakistan accused of supporting Taliban

By ALISA TANG, Associated Press Writer Tue Dec 12, 2:05 PM ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai directly accused Pakistan's government Tuesday of supporting the Taliban insurgency in his country, hours after a suicide attacker exploded himself in an Afghan governor's compound, killing eight.

Taliban militants have increasingly targeted government officials. Since September, they have killed one provincial governor, narrowly missed another, and killed several district-level police, intelligence and administrative chiefs.

The attacks are aimed at undermining the government of Karzai, who on Tuesday employed some of his toughest rhetoric yet against Pakistan, Afghanistan's eastern neighbor and a U.S. ally.

"The problem is not Taliban. We don't see it that way. The problem is with Pakistan," Karzai told foreign journalists during a trip to Kandahar, the Taliban's former stronghold."

He said the Taliban took power with support from Pakistan, calling it "more than a boss."

"The state of Pakistan was supporting the Taliban, so we presume if there is still any Taliban, that they are being supported by a state element."

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, claimed responsibility for Tuesday's suicide attack.

The bomb went off in a parking lot and Helmand Gov. Mohammed Daud escaped injury, although a district chief was killed. It was the second deadly attack near Daud's office in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, in less than three months. Eight other people were wounded.

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[Old and In the Way]

1. It's a Rubic's Cube of problems in the ME created by our

Tic-Tac-Toe pResident. I can't see anything getting better over there until this man is removed from office.

[babylonsister]

2. Amen. The guy who doesn't want to make any decisions while

the Middle East implodes? I'm over being embarrassed by him; he's now scary.