Word: maliki
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...Baghdad Iraq Wants a Withdrawal Date Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki implied on July 7 that he wants a new agreement with the U.S. to spell out when foreign troops will leave--the sort of timeline the Bush Administration has long opposed. Iraq's national security adviser chimed in the next day, saying Baghdad was "impatiently" waiting for the U.S. to pull out troops. "We're unambiguously talking about their departure," he said...
...represent the last frontier at the far corner of southeastern Iraq. Barely 55 yards (50 m) across a narrow stretch of water known as the Shatt al-Arab - close enough to swim over - lies Iran, an elusive but increasingly intimate ally to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government, and the principal country the U.S. accuses of fueling violence and illegal militias in Iraq...
...among his countrymen, one that has improved ever since March, when the Shi'ite Prime Minister led a series of bold military offensives to "impose the law" in chaotic militia-dominated cities across the country. Those actions have dispelled sentiments shared by many Iraqis that his administration is weak. "[Maliki] is very strong. He made a decision to bring back security for us, and it was a good decision," says Ahmed Talib, a boat operator in the predominantly Shi'ite city of Basra in southern Iraq. "Now I think most people support Maliki." Even al-Maliki's rivals among...
...Maliki may indeed be showing his true colors. Last month Iraq's speaker of Parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadanni, predicted this shift in the government's negotiating stance with the U.S. "[Maliki's] Shi'ite coalition is publicly with the [SOFA] agreement but secretly against it," says al-Mashhadanni. "They came to power because of an agreement with the multinational forces, and they [have to] thank them for that. But the [long-term] presence of the multinational force will affect their [popular, nationalist] position." (Al-Mashhadanni's own party, the Sunni Tawafuq bloc, has the reverse problem; according to al-Mashhadanni...
...Maliki may be further emboldened by his government's improved ties with neighboring Iran, America's biggest regional rival. Between that and a tighter grip on Shi'ite support, the Prime Minister and his men have no reason to admit that the timetable is mere posturing. On Tuesday, Iraq's national security advisor Mowaffaq al-Rubaie reinforced the Prime Minister's statement. "We can't have a memorandum of understanding with foreign forces unless it has dates and clear horizons determining the departure of foreign forces. We're unambiguously talking about their departure," he told reporters in Najaf after...