If I grabbed the UPS guy and annointed him king of my block, gave him some money, and told him to rule the place, what would he do? Besides call the police, I mean. If he took this seriously, he'd assess the place, align himself with the biggest thugs about, and promise them part of the loot. Right? How else can you establish power when the infrastructure is broken?
Al-Maliki is in such a position. He holds bags of money Bush shoved into his hands with the command to go and make a country. Bush then sits back and complains about Maliki's government when most of the 'officials' are either cowering in the Green Zone or out of the country. The Iraqis look at this set-up and ask,"What government?" They can see the militias are the ones offering protection. Al-Sadr is one person who is actually attempting to hold the country together. So who do you think Maliki will align himself with?
This gives me an idea..... If I grab a UPS guy and make him President of the United States, would it be ok with you guys?
Read Juan Cole for his intelligently worded reaction to Bush's Big Surge speech.
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