Is the Maliki Government Worth Saving?

Even as George Bush prepares to send another 20-30,000 US troops to Baghdad, American government officials are expressing doubts about the value of defending the Maliki government.
Their concern is that the Maliki government is led by radical Shia and is so wedded to them that it can't be trusted to crack down on Shiite militias.

Of particular concern is Maliki's dependency on radical Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr and his private militia, the Mahdi Army. According to the McClatchy News Service the controversial video of the Hussein hanging had a lot more impact on Washington than George Bush lets on:

"Several U.S. officials in Baghdad and Washington told McClatchy Newspapers that, practically speaking, the Bush administration no longer can expect Maliki to tackle the militias because Saddam's hanging exposed the depth of the government's sectarianism.

"The scene at the execution 'confirms everyone's worst speculations about the government: It is sectarian and incompetent,' said a U.S. official who agreed to speak under a promise of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. The militias and Maliki's government are intertwined 'so much that you don't know for sure from issue to issue what is the militia and what is the government,' the official said."

"Links between the Sadrists and the Dawa party have long been a topic of speculation here, with Iraqi and U.S. officials agreeing that Maliki rose to his position largely with the support of the Sadrists, who control the largest bloc of seats in Iraq's 275-member legislature.

"Sadrists also control four ministries - including health, agriculture and transportation - and Mahdi Army members are widely believed to have infiltrated Iraq's security services. The recent report by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group described the country's Facilities Protection Services, a security force charged with protecting government buildings, as 'a source of funding and jobs for the Mahdi Army.'

"But the scene at the execution, captured by a cell phone and posted on the Internet, was the starkest example yet of the ties between Maliki's government and Sadr's militia."

Meanwhile, throughout the Arab world, the grisly video of the hanging is transforming Saddam, not just into a martyr but into a hero.

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - "Support for Saddam Hussein across the Arab world has only grown since his execution, galvanizing anger against Iraq's Shiite-led government, which the United States has hoped the region would support.

"One Egyptian paper, the independent Al-Karama, splashed Saddam's photo over a full page Monday, with an Iraqi flag behind him, declaring him an Arab martyr.

"'He lived as hero, died as a man,' another Egyptian opposition newpaper, Al-Osboa, proclaimed in a headline, showing a photo of Saddam at the gallows.