Bush in Iraq

President Bush is in Iraq on a surprise visit. In a symbolic gesture, the Commander in Chief did not go to Baghdad and confer with the government there, opting instead to visit Anbar province. Bush's team hopes that local government and leaders will emerge as the best agents of progress in the war torn country.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki was part of the delegation that met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates before the President's arrival. As the AP reports, having the Prime Minister, who is a Shiite, travel to Sunni- dominated Anbar also sends a powerful message to war critics: al- Maliki is indeed capable of reaching out to Sunnis, and uniting Iraq's religious factions.

National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley told the AP that the trip was decided on 6 weeks ago to coincide with Congress' return to Washington, and the heating up of the war debate. Hadley said there has been marked progress in Anbar, making it a good place to show the administration's strategy.

The next week is very important for the administration, and pivotal for the war effort overall. General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will testify before Congress on progress against the sectarian violence that has been steady since the US overthrew Saddam Husein in 2003. Support for troop withdrawal has gained steam over the Congressional break, especially in light of a critical GAO report leaked in the media last week that said little to no political or infrastructural headway was being made. The time for al- Maliki to broker a solution among Iraq's politicians appears to be at hand.

February's 30,000 troop surge has seen some increase in stability, but opponents argue such stability will be fleeting, so long as Iraq's political factions fail to build any kind of power-sharing consensus.

...Because Maliki Is Wack...in Iraq

The Boston Globe today has an interesting piece about the political situation in Iraq. The article alludes to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's inability to sustain the unity of his coalition government, and how administration officials are conducting back-door meetings to shore up support for the former Shi'ite expatriate. The coalition government has been severely weakened by the resignation of several Sunni cabinet members and has only one Sunni remaining.

Despite the gradual disintegration of the government, U.S. officials continue to keep the prime minister in power and fighting back calls for his resignation. Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, returned from Iraq noting improved security, but chastising the al-Maliki government as incompetent, and being unable "to make the compromises so essential to ending the violence." With the violence in Iraq so blatantly tribal, it's going to take a strong-willed, center-minded diplomat to try and abate the carnage at least to Mogadishu levels.

Now I have been calling for the U.S. to leave Iraq on it's own terms, and at least leave behind a country that is adverse to the sustainability of Jihadist terror networks. Yet, democracy is not without its struggles, and we are at a critical point when America must be seen standing up for Iraqi democracy and not for any particular Iraqi regime. It would be one stormy short-term, but the U.S. should allow the Iraqi Parliament to have a no-confidence vote for al-Maliki. A no-confidence vote can be seen quite frequently throughout the world, from Western democracies to Israel, and they always shore up public support that the government is serious about moving forward with policies that work. These votes always have detrimental consequences, especially in young democracies like Iraq, but what is to come out of it is even greater. Either the parliament votes to sustain the al-Maliki government, at which point he retains his domestic legitimacy (and thus, internationally as well), or he's voted out and Iraq gets a new Prime Minister and a fresh start. It will probably be more like a bloody start, but democracy would have been exorcised.

Furthermore, a no-confidence vote gives breathing room to the directors of the surge, who will be reporting to Congress next month on the progress of the strategy. Couple that with the reduced violence throughout Iraq as a whole and the administration's hype-up regarding Anbar province, and you have a new political landscape that brings the country closer to a democracy where it's okay to lose an election.

Several folks would rather see America pull out of Iraq, and hope to God something works out well. I hope to God democracy works and functions in Iraq, while America stays committed to cleaning the mess we started there.