Sadrists quit Maliki's government
The WaPo's website is reporting that five pro-Sadrist cabinet members and 30 pro-Sadrist deputies have announced the suspension of their support for the Maliki government. Maliki's upcoming meeting with Pres. Bush constitutes, they say, a "provocation to the feelings of the Iraqi people and a violation of their constitutional rights."
The Sadrists had talked earlier about their intention to quit if Maliki should go ahead with the meeting, so this development should not come as a surprise.
This move of withdrawing from a weak, US-supported government is eerily parallel to what Hizbullah and its allies have done in Lebanon. It looks as if these parties and their political allies in the region, primarily the regime in Iran, are prepared to provoke serious political crises in Lebanon and Iraq as a way of... what?
Seriously trying to get the attention of Washington?
Sending a (political) shot across Washington's bows to remind it of the even greater damage that could be wrought to a political order in the region that is still, basically, very pro-American, in the event that Iran itself is subjected to a military attack?
Hardline Bushites, however, might interpret the Sadrists' decision to quit the government as a partial "achievement" in their latest campaign to try to split Maliki and a substantial group of Iraqi Shiite pols away from a pro-Iranian "rump." This might give the Bushites the idea that their general "strategy" toward Iraq is working, and give them more confidence to proceed with an attack against Iran....
Which would be good for nobody concerned.... At all... And yes, that certainly includes the 147,000 US service members strung out in widely distributed positions inside Iraq...
This week is a turning point for the the Middle East. More urgently than ever the region needs just exactly the kind of high-level, broadly inclusive, de-escalatory diplomatic gathering that Kofi Annan has called for.
De-escalation now, please!