Maliki: I won't resign, can't be forced out

[unhappycamper]

Maliki: I won't resign, can't be forced out
By Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007


BAGHDAD — Looking tired and pale but speaking firmly, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki told McClatchy Newspapers Tuesday that he has no intention of resigning despite rising U.S. criticism of his government.

In a 50-minute interview in his office in Baghdad's Green Zone, Maliki strongly defended his tenure and said that he doesn't expect to be forced out. He said his efforts at national reconciliation, not the surge of additional U.S. troops or actions by Iraqi security forces, are responsible for improved security.

He blamed the United States and its early policies in Iraq for the sectarianism that plagues the country, and said he opposed the current U.S. policy of working with former Sunni Muslim insurgent groups who've turned against al Qaida in Iraq because that, too, promotes sectarianism.

Still, he said he isn't yet willing to send Americans home. "Now there is a need for them to stay on," Maliki said. "When the security situation becomes stable, the need will no longer be there."

The interview was Maliki's first with an American news organization since U.S. officials began a drumbeat of criticism against him last week.

Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Hillary Clinton of New York called for the Iraqi parliament to replace him, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq called the government's performance "extremely disappointing" and a new assessment of Iraq by the U.S. intelligence community predicted that Maliki's government would grow even weaker over the next 12 months.


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[ck4829]

1. K&R - Maliki's just not talking to the US here

But I think he's also saying this to his opponents inside Iraq, telling them not to get any ideas.

[cooolandrew]

2. Great to see when they stand up to the bully. The world is going to click on sooner or later.

[Crazy Dave]

3. Bush says "No problem"

"We'll take all our troops out, then re-invade and re-liberate Iraq again", "So simple even a cave man could do it"

:puke:

[MethuenProgressive]

4. That's what Rumsfeld and Gonzo said, too.

[acmavm]

5. I'll repeat what I said yesterday, Maliki is just pissed because the Sunnis

aren't so easy to kill anymore. It's not like his party had any friggin' interest in a 'peaceful' solution. They just wanted to 'even' the score for the Saddam years. Now the Sunnis are fighting back and he's pissed because it's not as easy as it was before.