Maliki Is US Pawn No Longer

PM threatens to replace Sunnis with "alternative" ministers

(NEWSER) - Iraq’s PM says he will try to salvage his disintegrating government by holding an emergency summit of cabinet members over the next couple of days. The BBC reports that Nouri al-Maliki is even warning Sunnis that he could refill his government with “alternative” ministers if they refuse to join. Sunnis accuse al-Maliki of having close ties with Iran, which has started "an unprecedented genocide campaign” in Iraq. More»

Iraqi PM hasn't followed through on his end of agreement

(NEWSER) - The US is charging ahead with an $11 billion arms deal with Iraq, and has even delivered some of the promised fighter jets, tanks, and weapons—even though Nouri al-Maliki has blatantly failed to follow through on an agreement intended to ensure he would not marginalize his Sunni rivals. Indeed, Maliki has moved aggressively to cement his power since the US left Iraq, leading some diplomats to express concern about the sale, the New York Times reports. More»

Tariq al-Hashemi says Maliki forced his guards to confess

(NEWSER) - Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi vigorously denied the terrorism charges leveled against him yesterday , saying that Shiite-led security personnel had forced false confessions out of his personal guards. "I swear by God I didn’t do this disobedience against Iraqi blood, and I would never do this," he said in a televised news conference from the Kurdish capital of Erbil. "The goal is clear, it is not more than political slander." More»

Group favors a government more closely allied with Iran

(NEWSER) - Iraq’s major Shiite parties have formed a new coalition without Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki or his Dawa Party, they announced today. That means that unless Maliki finds new allies, he will likely lose his job following the January elections. If the new coalition wins a majority, he’ll be replaced by a leader with much closer ties to Iran, the Washington Post reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Iraq was rocked by two deadly, possibly destabilizing bombings this weekend, but the proof is in the reprisals, Larry Kaplow writes in Newsweek—and there were none. “Iraq today is a different place than it was when ethnic conflict threatened to engulf the country in 2006,” Kaplow continues. “The powder here is wetter than it once was.” And that’s due mostly to Shiite military power and restraint in the face of Sunni attacks. More»