Looks like Bushco replaced Saddam... with another Saddam

[ck4829]

Iraq's prime minister has created an entity within his government that U.S. and Iraqi military officials say is being used as a smokescreen to hide an extreme Shiite agenda that is worsening the country's sectarian divide.

The Office of the Commander in Chief has the power to overrule other government ministries, according to U.S. military and intelligence sources.

Those sources say the 24-member office is abusing its power, increasingly overriding decisions made by the Iraqi Ministries of Defense and Interior and potentially undermining the entire U.S. effort in Iraq.

According to a U.S. intelligence source, the Office is "ensuring the emplacement of commanders it favors and can control, regardless of what the ministries want."

Ali Dabbagh, spokesman for the Iraqi government, would not respond directly to questions about what authority the Office exercises within the Iraqi government. He denied allegations that the prime minister's advisers were trying to push a Shiite agenda.

However, a senior Iraqi army officer disagreed. The officer, who is seeking help from the senior U.S. command, said: "The Office is not supposed to be taking charge like this. It's overstepping its role as an advisory office. It's not a healthy thing to have. It's people with no power who want to have power."

A senior U.S. military official cited several cases in Baghdad in which Iraqi commanders considered capable by the United States were detained or forced out of their positions after cracking down on Shiite militias.

Among the cases, an Iraqi colonel in Baghdad, who had made strides in controlling the Shiite Mehdi militia, was removed from his job, the U.S. military official said.

The official also cited the case of an Iraqi National Police commander who was detained and then fired after ordering his men to crack down on Shiite militiamen. The same source said the Office is working to reinstate Iraqi officers the United States had successfully removed because the officers were frequently casting a blind eye to violence carried out by Shiite militiamen.

Every senior U.S. and Iraqi military official who spoke to CNN in Baghdad about the advisers asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the story and potential political or personal backlash.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/01/iraq.office/index.html

[hobbit709]

1. Meet the new boss

Same as the old boss.

[dave_p]

2. He's no Saddam

Saddam held the country together for 35 years. The US helped these clowns to destroy it in four.

[INdemo]

3. And what these idiots dont realize is that this puppet govt

in Iraq in skimming off the top the millions in aid for rebuilding.As long as there is American money flowing this government will want us there forever..This is just identical to the South Vietnamese government and the U S finally caught on after millions were skimmed (and yes probably even funneled to North Vietnam)........If the real truth was known the United States is probably funding the terrorists through this so called democracy in Iraq...

[alfredo]

4. Sounds like Cheney's shadow government.