As per a threat issued by Muqtada al-Sadr et al last week, al-Sadr loyalists today announced that they will suspend activity in the Iraqi government, this in response to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s trip to Jordan to meet with President George Bush.
Several days ago, Iraqi parliamentarians loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr told al-Maliki that they would pull out of the Iraqi government should he follow through with plans to meet with President Bush today. (See my brief post on the topic here.) Apparently, the al-Sadr loyalists meant what they said. It’s not known whether this “suspension of activity” is intended to be permanent.
The question here in America has been whether al-Maliki had the political will to defy the threat.
Well, apparently he did. And now the very faction upon which his very political survival depends is spanking him.
Huh. Is this a matter of al-Maliki’s political will? Or is it a matter of the Bush administration’s pigheadedness in not providing him with a face-saving way out of this “rock and a hard place” scenario?
Or is it a little of both?
Technorati Tags: Muqtada al-Sadr, loyalists, suspend, activity, Iraqi government, Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, Jordan, President George Bush, Iraqi, parliamentarians, al-Sadr loyalists, suspension of activity, faction, political survival, political will, pigheadedness
Loading ...
0 Responses to “Al-Sadr Loyalists Follow Up on Threat”