In a 50-minute interview in his office in Baghdad's Green Zone, Maliki strongly defended his tenure and said that he doesn't expect to be forced out. He said his efforts at national reconciliation, not the surge of additional U.S. troops or actions by Iraqi security forces, are responsible for improved security.
He blamed the United States and its early policies in Iraq for the sectarianism that plagues the country, and said he opposed the current U.S. policy of working with former Sunni Muslim insurgent groups who've turned against al Qaida in Iraq because that, too, promotes sectarianism.
Ayad Allawi was on CNN last week stumping to get the job. He already got ousted by the Iraqi people once. What happened to Judy Miller's BFF---Chalabi, the original hand picked puppet?...AJ has a good post about the Broder candidate.
