Our Buddy Maliki

Not because he's competent, Bush doesn't deal with competent people, they make him uncomfortable. But he loves obsequious people, good lord almighty he loves the obsequious people fawning over him and thanking him for his assistance in invading Iraq and making the country save for the car bomb.

And nobody is apparently more thankful than Maliki. However, if you could write a prescription for failure via supporting stupidity this would work (close enough for Government work as "Dear Leader" would say):

A department of the Iraqi prime minister's office is playing a leading role in the arrest and removal of senior Iraqi army and national police officers, some of whom had apparently worked too aggressively to combat violent Shiite militias, according to U.S. military officials in Baghdad.

Since March 1, at least 16 army and national police commanders have been fired, detained or pressured to resign; at least nine of them are Sunnis, according to U.S. military documents shown to The Washington Post.

Army Spec. Patrick Read patrols in Mosul. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been accused of undermining security crackdowns for sectarian ends. Army Spec. Patrick Read patrols in Mosul. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been accused of undermining security crackdowns for sectarian ends. (By Maya Alleruzzo -- Associated Press)

Although some of the officers appear to have been fired for legitimate reasons, such as poor performance or corruption, several were considered to be among the better Iraqi officers in the field. The dismissals have angered U.S. and Iraqi leaders who say the Shiite-led government is sabotaging the military to achieve sectarian goals.

"Their only crimes or offenses were they were successful" against the Mahdi Army, a powerful Shiite militia, said Brig. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard, commanding general of the Iraq Assistance Group, which works with Iraqi security forces. "I'm tired of seeing good Iraqi officers having to look over their shoulders when they're trying to do the right thing."

But "the right thing" for Maliki (other than groveling with his fingers behind his back whenever Bush is on the videoconference while they read from their respective scripts) is to eliminate the Sunni's -- something that Bush likely will do little to prevent other than lip-service.