Maliki on his way out.

It is clear who is still the boss in Iraq. Maliki and Washington disagree as to the terms of the coming offensive. The US is determined to go where and when it wants in Baghdad and will be using Kurdish troops as proxies.Maliki insists that the US must get his authorisation for attacks. They will not. Maliki does not want to alienate his own Shia allies. The US seems incapable of taking account of the political realities faced by their allies (or puppets?).



Rice says will hold Iraq PM to his promises
13 Jan 2007 23:14:50 GMT13 Jan 2007 23:14:50 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove-->
Source: Reuters
(Adds Bush comments to CBS, paragraphs 13-16)
By Ibon Villelabeitia
BAGHDAD, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington would hold Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to his promises to reduce sectarian violence and that it was now time to see results.
A day after Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Maliki could lose his job if he failed to stop communal bloodshed, Rice stepped up pressure on the premier as she began a Middle East tour to drum up support for President George W. Bush's plan to send 21,500 extra troops to Iraq.
Echoing previous remarks that Maliki's government was living on "borrowed time" and that America's patience was running out, Rice said the Iraqi government understood that success in a plan to secure Baghdad was "a very high priority."
"To say that your patience isn't limited is simply to say that the Iraqi government needs to start to show results," Rice told reporters before arriving in Israel Saturday, according to a State Department transcript of her remarks.
"We're going to get an opportunity to see whether or not this is working, whether or not the Iraqis are living up to their obligations."
With Bush's critics saying his new strategy depends too heavily on Maliki keeping promises he failed to keep before, administration officials are piling pressure on Iraqi politicians to solve their differences and avert civil war.
Maliki has vowed to lead a Baghdad operation he says will hit not only insurgents from the once-dominant Sunni minority but also militias loyal to fellow Shi'ites -- a key demand of Washington and Sunnis, who say Iran is backing Shi'ite gunmen.
Maliki, who leads a fractious coalition of Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and ethnic Kurds, said Saturday his government agreed with Bush's plan for Iraqis to lead the security push although some of his hard-line Shi'ite allies have opposed it.
WITHDRAWING SUPPORT
At a U.S. Senate committee hearing on Friday, Gates said Maliki might have to quit if Iraqi political blocs withdrew their support over his failure to deliver. Following recent meetings between Bush and top Iraqi politicians, there have been reports that Washington is willing to back a new coalition.
"I think the first consequence that he has to face is the possibility that he'll lose his job," Gates said.
"There's some sense that ... there are beginning to be some people around that may say ... 'I can do better than he's doing,' in terms of ... making progress," he said.
Police found 31 bodies in Baghdad in the 24 hours to Saturday night, many tortured and shot dead, in a typical case of the sectarian violence that is forcing thousands to flee.
Bush acknowledged on Saturday that some of his administration's decisions in Iraq had contributed to instability.
The president, pressed on the question during an interview, said: "Well, no question, decisions have made things unstable."
"I think history is going to look back and see a lot of ways we could have done things better. No question about it," he said in the interview, taped for airing on CBS on Sunday night.
But Bush said he still believed he was right to topple Saddam Hussein.
TEHRAN'S ALLEGED INVOLVEMENT
Two days after U.S. forces raided an Iranian government office in the Iraqi city of Arbil in the second such operation in a month, Rice repeated a warning by Bush that Washington will not tolerate Tehran's alleged support for armed groups in Iraq.
"I think there is plenty of evidence that there is Iranian involvement with these networks that are making high-explosive IEDs (bombs) and that are endangering our troops, and that's going to be dealt with."
But she said Bush's order to target Iranians operating in Iraq did not mark a widening of the conflict.
Facing hostility from some fellow Republicans as well as Democrats, Bush used his weekly radio address Saturday to make clear he would not back off his plan to send more troops to Iraq and accused critics of failing to offer an alternative.
"Those who refuse to give this plan a chance to work have an obligation to offer an alternative that has a better chance for success. To oppose everything while proposing nothing is irresponsible," he said.

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