The growing rift between Bush and Maliki

By Heraclitus

Not to trump Michael's "must-read of the day" or anything (immediately below this post), but have a butcher's hook at this article in The New York Times. It argues that Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the current Iraqi PM, can't possibly deliver everything that Bush has asked of him with his "new" policy. In particular, Maliki can't and won't help the Americans hunt down death squad leaders in Baghdad. Some political observers in Iraq are convinced that this is intentional, that this is the first step in a move to push Maliki out of power, via a parliamentary coup. Maliki, for his part, shows little interest in cooperating with Bush, as evidenced by his not bothering to show up for the press conference he had called to respond to Bush's speech.

Oh, and meanwhile, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte has warned that al-Qaeda is rebuilding in Pakistan and southern Afghanistan.