Al-Maliki
Too proud to ask for help? Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wants to be seen as a strong and decisive leader, one who brought stability to the country and pushed the Americans into departing.
He is also brash, as he showed March a year ago when, without consulting the United States, he led an attack by government forces on Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, to dislodge the Shiite militias and criminal gangs who had taken over the city. It ultimately worked, but not until the United States rushed in combat advisers and major logistical support.
On June 30, U.S. combat forces withdrew from Iraq’s cities to large fortified bases in the countryside. They are available for combat missions, but the Iraqis have to request their help. Otherwise, security is almost completely up to the Iraqi army and police. Confident in the new arrangement, the government had begun to remove the blast walls erected by the United States, a move U.S. commanders thought premature.
On Wednesday, suicide bombers detonated two tanker trucks loaded with fertilizer and artillery shells outside the Foreign Ministry and the Finance Ministry, killing over 100 and wounding more than 500.
U.S. troops waited to be called, but no call came. The al-Maliki government has been insistent that it will maintain security itself.
The attacks were the worst since the U.S. pullout and they shook Baghdad’s wobbly faith in both al-Maliki and their security forces. The Associated Press reported that both Shiite and Sunni clerics criticized al-Maliki during Friday prayers.
Al-Maliki moved decisively. He ordered the detention of 11 military and police commanders responsible for the areas of the attack, and pledged “swift resolutions and procedures” to head off future attacks. There are plans for a full-dress review of their security measures and creation of a joint committee of the military and security services to coordinate a response.
It is critical to the credibility and legitimacy of the current government of Iraq that the Jan. 16 parliamentary elections come off in relative peace and produce a workable legislature.
The prime minister still has one more weapon in his arsenal – the Americans. Curious as it sounds, the United States, post-Saddam Hussein, has more experience at patrolling and pacifying Iraq – and is arguably better at it – than the Iraqis.
Al-Maliki should avail himself of U.S. help while he has the chance. President Obama has ordered all U.S. combat troops out by a year from now, and once that withdrawal accelerates it may be nearly impossible to throw it into reverse.
Scripps Howard News Service