Word: iraqi
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...Washington pundits and officials in the Bush Administration who want to goose the government into action are fond of saying the Iraqi leaders just aren't taking a firm hold of the reins. Meanwhile, Iraqi politicians chafe when American officials complain about their incompetence or selfishness or laziness. They bridle over one of major flaws of the U.S. occupation: American condescension. No one wants to be told they can't run their own country. The fact is, no one has run their country well in the last four years; there is plenty of blame to go around...
...Since L. Paul Bremer handed over authority, the Iraqi government has done a terrible job of, well, governing. The thin bench of Iraqi politicians is made up mostly of rich exiles like the Pentagon-backed Ahmed Chalabi, Iran-funded Islamists and, well, just straight up crooks. There has yet to emerge an Iraqi prime minister who stayed in Iraq while Saddam was in power. First there was the U.S.-backed Ayad Allawi, who was widely perceived among Iraqis as a CIA patsy and whose defense minister oversaw the disappearance of more than $1 billion during his eight-month tenure. Then...
...like the U.S.-led coalition has done any better. (It was Bremer, after all, who did irreparable damage by disbanding the Iraqi Army and bungling the post-war reconstruction.) Operation Together Forward, which was announced with great fanfare in June 2006, was totally ineffective at quelling the sectarian killings. The Iraqi police training has been a case study in inefficiency, poor planning and the U.S. government's consistent reluctance to invest the money and resources needed into any task in Iraq...
...there a bright side? The Iraqi government is weak by design. The portfolios of the government were handed out like so many pieces of cake. Yet, beyond all expectations, the parliament, however ineffectual, has actually maintained a coalition government in place. And while the government's structure makes it impossible for one person or party to ride roughshod over everyone else, that means decisions are made by a painfully slow process of consensus - which may give them a better chance of sticking. For his part, Maliki has tried to project strength: rushing Saddam Hussein to execution and directing mildly harsh...
...explaining themselves. As they try to prove that they understand the complexities of Iraq and care about the continuing tragedy, mawkish sentimentality and ham-fisted didacticism join forces to drain the project of all dramatic coherence. After curfew in Samarra, in Iraq’s volatile Sunni triangle, two Iraqi teenagers approach an American checkpoint. Unarmed and submissive, the teenagers reflexively put up their hands—and the Americans respond by throwing the both off the bridge. One drowns. It’s a shocking incident, and the film sets out to unravel its repercussions. The boy?...