Gay Conservative

Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, attacked Democrat Senators Hillary Clinton (NY) and Carl Levin (MI) for crticizing his government.

Faced with walkouts by members of his government and increasing criticism from U.S. officials, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told U.S. senators Sunday to butt out of his country’s domestic politics.

“There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin,” al-Maliki told reporters in Baghdad. “This is severe interference in our domestic affairs.”

It pains me to defend Democrats when it regards Iraq.  But, no sir, Mr. al-Maliki – we will not butt of of Iraq’s domestic politics.  America has a vested interest in seeing Iraq succeed.  Our soldiers are there to ensure the stability of your nation.  And everything you do or don’t do affects our ability to bring these men and women back home as soon as possible.  If that means that your government must go – so be it.

al-Maliki has been a failure when it comes to implementing reforms necessary for the political stabilization of Iraq.

Government leaders said Sunday they had reached agreement on some of those measures. But the top Sunni Arab in the Iraqi leadership, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, played down the reports of progress, and his office called the agreements “not so significant.”

The benchmarks Congress has set to to judge the Iraqi government’s progress include passage of legislation allocating Iraq’s oil revenues, easing restrictions on former members of executed dictator Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party and setting up provincial elections.

Those benchmarks are fair and should be met.  al-Maliki, however, has done little to meet those goals.  Consequently, the political situation in Iraq is still tenuous.  That means that the US presence in Iraq must be maintained in order to combat the instability caused by al-Maliki’s failures as a leader.

President Bush has repeatedly covered for al-Maliki.  I guess I can understand why he might be inclined to do that.  But the fact is that the current government has failed to produce.  They have had sufficient time to at least make some hint of progress, but that has not occured.  One might easily blame the opposition groups and ethnic tensions, but that is not an excuse.  al-Maliki’s challenge is to unite the factions.  If he cannot do that, then it is time to turn the reigns over to someone new.

We can meddle in Iraq’s domestic affairs as much as we like until the day that they keep up their end of the bargain and allow us to leave a stable, secure nation.