Kurds Lead Charge to Oust Iraqi Leader

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is under fire again, this time from Kurdish politicians who say he hasn’t followed through on promises he made after the Kurds propped him up last summer. A Kurdish/Sunni coalition against Maliki almost has enough votes to depose him, a development the US fears would set back already-sluggish political progress, the Washington Post reports.

Maliki is also being propped up by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. But neither Sistani nor the US is particularly happy with Maliki’s inept administration. The US is hoping to team up with opposition figures to work around Maliki. “Our message to Maliki is that you can’t govern solo,” said Ambassador Ryan Crocker, but he urged focus on improving, not changing, the government. (More Iraq stories.)