AL-MALIKI ISOLATED: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, harshly criticized by Washington politicians last week for failing to bring about reconciliation among Iraq’s political and ethnic factions, is increasingly isolated among his own countrymen as well. He has lost the Shiite Muslim power base that brought him to power, and analysts say his support among Kurds could easily vanish too. Nearly half of his Cabinet ministers have resigned their posts or are refusing to participate in Cabinet meetings. Many say he is on his last legs as prime minister.
Whether al-Maliki will actually be removed from office won’t be known until Iraq’s parliament comes back from its summer break next month. No popular consensus candidate is evident, so replacing him may be difficult. A prolonged standoff over al-Maliki’s fate or the selection of a new prime minister would hardly improve government performance, which U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker last week called “extremely disappointing.”
LEGISLATOR VISITS: U.S. lawmakers’ trips to Iraq, highly choreographed affairs known as codels, short for congressional delegations, are an annual rite of summer, but this year they have taken on a fresh sense of urgency. With Democrats running Congress and President Bush’s troop increase due for an intense re-evaluation in September, roughly 50 lawmakers have tromped through Iraq this summer, and their impressions are having a profound effect on the policy debate.
Congress has had notoriously testy relations with the Pentagon over the war. But with new Defense Secretary Robert Gates in charge, the trips have amounted to a kind of charm offensive. Lawmakers say Gates seems especially encouraging of visits; six freshmen traveled to Iraq recently at his invitation.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) came away from her visit convinced more than ever that “the surge is a failure.” Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) took the opposite view; he’s now “leaning in the direction” of giving the buildup more time.
BAGHDAD VIOLENCE: A car bomb exploded Saturday near Baghdad’s most important Shiite shrine, killing seven people and wounding dozens as authorities imposed new security restrictions to prevent attacks on Shiite pilgrims ahead of major religious ceremonies.
The blast occurred about noon in busy Oruba Square, a major commercial area about 500 yards from the shrine of Imam Musa Kadhim. No group claimed responsibility.
The U.S. military announced the discovery of a grisly execution site in the Arab Jabour district, south of Baghdad. On Tuesday and Wednesday, soldiers found human skulls, decomposing bodies and bones wrapped in bloody clothes, U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said in a statement.
