Hillary Clinton Has Lost The Confidence Of Leader al-Maliki

Beleaguered Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, lashed out at a couple of Senators, and France for asking for his ouster. Al-Maliki is having a hard time keeping support while trying to hold his war torn country together. Even President Bush has expressed some disappointment with al-Maliki. So al-Maliki shot back at his critics, especially Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. “Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin are democratic people and should respect democracy. They talk about Iraq as if Iraq is their property,” Maliki complained at a news conference in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone. “Leaders like Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin have not experienced in their political lives the kind of differences we have in Iraq. When they give their judgment they have no knowledge of what reconciliation means,” he said. So if you haven’t walked a mile in al-Maliki’s shoes, then you shouldn’t complain about his lack of progress. Al-Maliki added, “There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. They should come to their senses.” They should come to their senses, and get our troops out of Iraq, and let al-Maliki play in his own little mess. Al-Maliki also wanted France to apologize for statements made by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who also suggested that al-Maliki step aside. This outburst comes just days before General David Petraeus, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are due in Washington to report to Congress on progress in Iraq since the introduction of 30,000 more America troops. Al-Maliki has confidence in the report saying General Pretraeus will “be supportive of the government and will disappoint the politicians who are relying,” on the report to be negative. Al-Maliki claims there is plenty of progress saying, “I do not agree with Hillary Clinton. Reconciliation takes a long time but I think the political process as a democracy is happening quickly.” “Since the beginning when I presented the reconciliation program, the understanding of it has been very limited.” al-Maliki said. Some, “thought it was an invitation for supper. But it is a process,” he said. “It must deal with differences we inherited from the former regime based on sectarian and political affiliations. Reconciliation takes a long time.” He sounds a lot like President Bush.
Alan Cosgrove