Maliki Is Not the Problem in Iraq: U.S. Policy is to Blame

After listening to Senator Levin and Senator Clinton call for the replacement of the Prime Minister of Iraq I nearly blew a gasket. What are they thinking? Now, please do not confuse me with siding with the Bush administration. Never. Not on this, ever. But, the Prime Minister of Iraq is a symptom of a much greater problem. The New York Times editorial page said on Friday: Blaming the prime minister of Iraq, rather than the president of the United States, for the spectacular failure of American policy, is cynical politics, pure and simple. It is neither fair nor helpful in figuring out how to end America's biggest foreign policy fiasco since Vietnam.

I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. The Times said Maliki has been a "catastrophic" leader since replacing Jafaari over a year ago. But, who orchestrated the removal? Bush and America. Jafaari was the first elected leader in Iraq's short democratic history and turned the government into an instrument of Shiite domination and revenge, trying to steer American troops away from Shiite militia strongholds and leaving Sunni Arab civilians unprotected from sectarian terrorism.

The Times continues: The problem is not Mr. Maliki's narrow-mindedness or incompetence. He is the logical product of the system the United States created, one that deliberately empowered the long-persecuted Shiite majority and deliberately marginalized the long-dominant Sunni Arab minority. It was all but sure to produce someone very like Mr. Maliki, a sectarian Shiite far more interested in settling scores than in reconciling all Iraqis to share power in a unified and peaceful democracy.

The problem is not the Iraqi government, it is the United States trying to orchestrate what they want behind the scenes with little respect for the people's country whom they now occupy. Replacing Maliki would give the Bush administration (who secretly is orchestratimg Maliki's removal for Allawi, Bush' first choice from the beginning) a new reason to say "give us six more months" when they deserve not one more minute. Time is up. This war must end. Now. Not six months from now, not in the middle of 2008. It is time for the Democrats and us, the people to stand up and say - enough.