On Thurs, May 24 2007 - Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki submitted to Iraq’s legislature a list of six ministers to fill the vacancies left after radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr’s political bloc pulled out of the Cabinet. Al-Maliki also announced that additional changes to his Cabinet are in the works. The Cabinet changes are small compared to the shifts in the Iraqi political system that will result from negotiations between the United States and Iran, prospective changes that motivated al-Sadr’s pullout from the al-Maliki government.
What we are seeing is a temporary shift.. cosmetic.. within the cabinet of Iraq. The REAL work going on is the detente between the US and IRAN. I believe we are beginning to see a shift towards a real government in Iraq that has a middle ground between Iranian objectives and a US pullout on our terms.
Check out the ongoing discussion on our forums.
In time I sincerely hope that history finds me mistaken, but my feeling is that we will have a footprint in Iraq for many years to come. It won't matter who sits in the big chair after 2008, forget about any promises to get out that were made, we're not going to leave the oil. Problem is for the U.S. to justify taking control of Iraqi oil there will have to be some future dramatic and hostile terrorist action against America, and some evil doers to hold responsible. It would seem that Iran and Syria are being groomed for that role. Is taking control of Iraqi oil in our best interest? Who can say for certain, problem is it's likely that we (the American people) won't look for an answer to that question until we're back waiting in gas lines paying $5+ a gallon. ~A