"We announce the suspension of our participation in government and parliament," said Nasar al-Rubaie, the leader of Sadr's parliamentary bloc. "We gave a promise last Friday that we will suspend our participation if the Prime Minister met with Bush and today [Wednesday] we are doing it as a Sadrist bloc."
In an earlier statement, the 30 lawmakers and five cabinet ministers loyal to Sadr said their action was necessary because the Amman summit constituted a "provocation to the feelings of the Iraqi people and a violation of their constitutional rights."
But Rubaie cautioned that their action did not mean the officials were pulling out of the government, which would all but guarantee the collapse of Iraq's unity government.
"The suspension does not mean our withdrawal from the political process," said Rubaie. He added the Sadr bloc would meet in coming days to discuss how long members would remain out of the government.
Meanwhile, Stephen Hadley is trying to backpeddle after his secret memo in which he expressed doubts about al-Maliki was published by the New York Times:
Contrary to the doubts expressed in his memo, however, Hadley emphasized to reporters that he was not criticizing Maliki, adding that he disagreed with the view in Iraq that Maliki is ineffectual.
"We think that this unity government is doing pretty well in a very difficult situation," he said. "Maliki has been impatient and has said that his government has not produced the results they seek. And he's got some ideas about how to enhance their capabilities to do so."
Who's been the impatient one, Hadley? How about pointing the finger right back at the White House. As for Hadley's revisionist history where he now claims he wasn't criticizing the PM, here's what he wrote about him on Nov 8th:
"His intentions seem good when he talks with Americans, and sensitive reporting suggests he is trying to stand up to the Shia hierarchy and force positive change,” the memo said of the Iraqi leader. “But the reality on the streets of Baghdad suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into action.”
[...]
“Reports of nondelivery of services to Sunni areas, intervention by the prime minister’s office to stop military action against Shia targets and to encourage them against Sunni ones, removal of Iraq’s most effective commanders on a sectarian basis and efforts to ensure Shia majorities in all ministries — when combined with the escalation of Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) killings — all suggest a campaign to consolidate Shia power in Baghdad.”
That sure looks like criticism to me. Why is it impossible to get the truth out of these Bush administration hacks? Even when their own words are placed right in front of their faces, they deny reality without even blinking.
Meanwhile, it looks like Dick Cheney had what I'm sure he'll consider to be fruitful talks with the Saudi royalty, convincing them to 'intervene' in Iraq if US troops withdraw. Considering the hate-on bin Laden has for his homeland, you have to wonder which neocon genius came up with that idea. Saudi Arabia's involvement would also threaten world oil prices:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Using money, weapons or its oil power, Saudi Arabia will intervene to prevent Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias from massacring Iraqi Sunni Muslims once the United States begins pulling out of Iraq, a security adviser to the Saudi government said on Wednesday.
Diplomats and analysts say Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbors, led by heavyweight Saudi Arabia, fear that the sectarian violence could spill into large-scale civil war between Shi'ites and Sunnis and set off a political earthquake far beyond Iraq.
Nawaf Obaid, writing in The Washington Post, said the Saudi leadership was preparing to revise its Iraq policy to deal with the aftermath of a possible U.S. pullout, and is considering options including flooding the oil market to crash prices and thus limit Iran's ability to finance Shi'ite militias in Iraq.
"To be sure, Saudi engagement in Iraq carries great risks -- it could spark a regional war. So be it: The consequences of inaction are far worse," Obaid said.
Wanna bet?
A Western diplomat based in Riyadh said Saudi Arabia was already funding Sunni tribes in Iraq.
"I don't doubt for a second that they do pump money to the tribes, that's the Saudi way of doing things. But if they sent in troops it would be a bloodbath," he said.
The sidebar to this, of course, is the Iranian threat and the refusal of the Bush administration to engage that country's president in negotiations, along with Talibani's recent cozying up to Ahmadinejad who has penned a new letter to Bush. (That news prompted CNN's biased Kyra Phillips to ask UN correspondent Richard Roth this morning, 'Who's going to print that?' in a very condescending tone to which Roth responded (looking rather surprised) that he doesn't know because he's in the broadcasting business.)
Saudi Arabia is worried about a new Iran imposing its political agenda on the region. We don't want Iran and its allies to have a free hand and free control," he said.
"Iran knows that it is vulnerable and that Saudi Arabia has the upper hand and maintains real weight and power."
What a mess.
Today, Iraq's president announced that an agreement has been reached with Iran:
Presidents Jalal Talabani of Iraq and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran held talks Wednesday hours before U.S. President George W. Bush was due to meet with the Iraqi prime minister in Jordan in talks aimed at finding a solution to Iraq's spiraling bloodshed.
Talabani gave no details on the security agreement with Iran, and Ahmadinejad made no mention of any deal at a joint press conference in Tehran.
"We discussed in the fields of security, economy, oil and industry. Our agreement was complete," Talabani told reporters. "This visit was 100 percent successful. Its result will appear soon."
It was not clear if Talabani's comments reflected an agreement by Tehran to try to rein in Shiite militias.
[...]
Talabani and Ahmadinejad attended a ceremony for the signing of two memorandums of understanding for cooperation in education and industry.
Ahmadinejad vowed that Iran "will stand by its Iraqi brothers," saying "no one can divide nations of Iran and Iraq."
That sounds ominous.
Bush is repeating his favourite talking points that he won't pull troops out of Iraq until the mission is finished (whatever 'the mission' is supposed to be now). It's time for him to get out of the way to allow the regional parties involved to come up with their own solutions. The more he, Dick, Rummy, Hadley and Condi try to micromanage this situation, the more divisive their ideas become and the less likely it is that there will be any satisfactory political outcome.
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