McClatchy : U.S. support for Maliki dismays Iraqi opposition

[babylonsister]

U.S. support for Maliki dismays Iraqi opposition
By Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers


BAGHDAD — Opposition Iraqi politicians of all stripes expressed dismay Tuesday that the top two American officials based here offered little criticism of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki during their two days of testimony before Congress, even though Maliki's government has made little progress toward national reconciliation.

Some called the testimony by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Army Gen. David Petraeus another U.S. blunder and wondered why the two didn't offer the same criticism of Maliki's government in Washington that they'd made recently in Iraq.

"They wrote something that sticks to the U.S. administration policy," independent Kurdish legislator Mahmoud Othman said. "The surge has worked, but it is all temporary . . . without some sort of reconciliation. We don't see any reconciliation."

Bassem Sharif al Hajeemi, a member of parliament from Fadhila, a Shiite Muslim party that left the government in March, said he was disappointed that Crocker and Petraeus continued to support the Maliki government.

"There are many things that the U.S. has done wrong in Iraq, and one or two years later they say, 'That was a mistake,' " Hajeemi said. "This is another wrong."

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[BridgeTheGap]

1. Contrary to * line of bull shit, Iraq will not get straightened out

until our military is withdrawn.