Word: iraqi
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...leeching more than a dozen reporters away from the leaders. Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Maine Republicans, were explaining why they feel it's important to pass legislation condemning the surge, which has sent in an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to stem the violence and give Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a chance to unify the different Iraqi factions behind his government. "The almost complete lack of progress since the surge began on the part of the Maliki government suggests that it has... made reform less likely," Collins said...
...deter a bevy of proposals as Democrats and Republicans alike shopped for the magic formula to get them to 60 votes. Senator Ken Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, and a group of five other Democrats and six Republicans introduced an amendment that would put in place the recommendations of the Iraqi Study Group - including direct talks with Syria and Iran and beginning a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops - an idea panned by conservatives as going backward seven months in the face of the new surge strategy...
...These are Iraqi security forces, so you don't want to undercut their ability to secure," Owens said. "What we don't want to do is go back to where the tribal piece here overrules the governance, because then we'll step back in time...
...Here we have a provincial leadership," said Owens. "We have a provincial government that's functional. You don't want to have tribes fighting without the sanction of the government." Owens estimates that there are over 12,000 Iraqi police foot soldiers at work against insurgents in Salahuddin, which is home to the volatile city of Samarra. U.S. forces have encouraged tribal leaders to enlist their followers in existing security force. Short of that, tribes should stay out of the fight, as far as Owens is concerned...
...street-smart politician. He ingratiated himself with the Kurdish bloc when he stood up to aggressive Turkish rhetoric about the Kurdish border in May. He's managed to hold onto the support of the Shi'ite coalition by gingerly two-stepping around the abolition of militias - authorizing coalition and Iraqi troops to fight them in some cities, leaving them largely untouched in others. If Maliki goes, one of these groups will have to sign on to the change in Prime Minister - and, at this point they can agree on no one else. What's more, the U.S. cannot just turn...