Iraq: U.S. ambassador supports Maliki's charges against his Sunni vice-president

  U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey said: “There is a serious effort by the Iraqi judiciary to have a free and fair and just investigation,” “It seems a lot of care is being taken at this point to maintain judicial independence and to have a very broad investigation.” These remarks give support to Maliki in his attempt to discredit Hashemi and portray him as a terrorist.
  Many analysts however think that the charges against Hashemi are politically motivated and designed to consolidate power in Maliki's own hands. The move by Maliki has increased ethnic tensions and led to the withdrawal of a main coalition partner from government. Hashemi is in the northern Kurdistan part of Iraq because he claims he could not receive a fair trial in Baghdad. For more see this article.
  On January 5th the Iraqi parliament held an emergency session to deal with the political crisis. No details of the session were made public. Imagine a meeting of  parliament but the public cannot know what exactly happened! There were talks between Prime Minister Maliki and factions which are boycotting the government.
  Maliki is trying to patch up relations with the regional president Barzani. Barzani is stressing the need for federalism and warned of a catastrophe if Maliki tried to consolidate power further. But Barzani tried to distance himself from the prosecution of Hashemi claiming it was a legal rather than a political matter. For more see this article. The session hardly seems to have solved the political crisis and violent actions in the streets continue as well.