IT'S HIS COUNTRY, LET HIM LEAD IT:

Iraqi leader goes own way to fill top post: He picks an unknown to lead forces in Baghdad, which raises questions about his motives (Louise Roug and Peter Spiegel, January 13, 2007, LA Times)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has filled the top military job in Baghdad with a virtually unknown officer chosen over the objections of U.S. and Iraqi military commanders, officials from both governments said.

Iraqi political figures said Friday that Maliki also had failed to consult the leaders of other political factions before announcing the appointment of Lt. Gen. Abud Qanbar. [...]

Maliki's decision to push through his own choice for one of the country's most sensitive military posts -- and to reject another officer who was considered more qualified by the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey -- has renewed questions about the prime minister's intentions.

"It's a delicate situation," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker who questioned the choice of Qanbar. "It's very dangerous if it turns out that he has affiliations," he said, naming Maliki's political party and the anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr.

U.S. officials are skeptical of Qanbar not only because of the way he was named, but because they know little about him. Moreover, they have questioned the degree to which Maliki's government is reliant on sectarian figures, particularly Sadr. Maliki essentially is asking American officials to take Qanbar on trust at a time when they have little left.

Qanbar, a commander in the navy during Saddam Hussein's reign, has not worked with American military officials, who say they know little about him other than that he hails from Amarah, a city in Iraq's Shiite-dominated south, and that he was taken prisoner by American forces near Kuwait during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

U.S. commanders have said that officials in Maliki's government have intervened several times to block them from combating Sadr's Al Mahdi militia, which is accused of being behind much of the bloodshed in Baghdad. When U.S. forces did raid the militia's stronghold of Sadr City, a largely Shiite neighborhood of east Baghdad, Maliki's government publicly criticized them. On several occasions, Maliki ordered the release of suspected militiamen captured there, frustrating U.S. commanders.

The appointment of Qanbar comes as the U.S. military is debating whether to attack Sadr City. As the Iraqi commander, Qanbar could have advance knowledge of U.S. operations. He would command 18 brigades of Iraqi forces that are supposed to be deployed to work with the Americans.

U.S. officials have said the decision on whether to move into Sadr City will be left to the Iraqi government.

Al-Maliki slow to move on Bush plan (STEVEN R. HURST, 1/13/07, The Associated Press)

hatever he said in private, al-Maliki, a devout Shiite, so far studiously has avoided publicly making that pledge. Instead, he has stuck with formulaic utterances, saying anyone illegally carrying weapons would be dealt with harshly.

Announcing his vision of the new security plan last Saturday, al-Maliki said he would fight against "safe haven for any outlaws, regardless of [their] sectarian or political affiliation."

He said the same in October, but then he ordered U.S. forces to pull back from attacks on Sadr City, the Baghdad neighborhood where the Mahdi Army is based. The violent Shiite militia is headed by his key political backer, radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Al-Maliki instead has encouraged the Americans to go after rival Sunni insurgents, especially in the area west of Baghdad where few Shiites live.

Experts say that even if al-Maliki assures Bush of support, his behavior illustrates that he's not as Bush described, a man whose primary concern is bringing peace and prosperity to his country.

"The Bush administration has one view of Iraqi reality in which Maliki is ... an honest broker," said W. Patrick Lang, a former head of Middle East intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency. "In my view, Maliki is one of any number of Shiite Arab activists who are seeking to consolidate Shiite control."

Al-Maliki, who first outlined a new Iraqi-led security plan to Bush in November, has never sought an increased U.S. force in Iraq. He has argued for the Americans increasingly to pull out of the cities and leave security to the Iraqi Army, which is 80 percent Shiite. The Americans would respond only when needed.

And the folks wonder why the Shi'a don't trust us?

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 13, 2007 11:16 AM