Me And What Army?
Nouri al-Maliki gives an interview to USAToday in which he explains why the pie-in-the-sky plans for Eye-Rack involving roundatbles and conferences such as this one will never produce anything:
Q: . . . When will the militias be disbanded?A: We should not think of the security challenge as being only militias. The militias may be one of the easier problems to deal with. The more serious challenge is terrorism, composed of the remnants of the Saddam (Hussein) regime and al-Qaeda. That's why we are working on two lines: facing militias and facing terrorists, who reject the entire state. The militias are members of the political process, while the Baathists and al-Qaeda reject the entire political system.
Regarding setting a time, I don't think we could determine it specifically. The problem of militias, in countries throughout the world, requires time. The most important thing is that we have started and started strong. We have given a clear message: Militias should reconsider their existence. ... The more success we have on the political side will help us deal with this issue. The initial date we've set for disbanding the militias is the end of this year or the beginning of next year.
Yep, while his own citizens are being slaughtered by the dozens every day, he prefers not to deal with the militias until hundreds more are dead and they grow much more stronger.
Well, at least he and his procrastination enjoys good company:
U.S. President George W. Bush assured Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday that the United States had not set any deadline for his government to control sectarian violence or risk losing American support for his leadership, the White House said.