Maliki: America's Man in Iraq

Bush has a problem. The central figure in the PBS documentary, "My Country, My Country," Dr. Riyadh, a Sunni medical doctor, is quoted saying that Iraq had a puppet government. Many Iraqi's surely feel that Maliki's a puppet, or at least is beholden to decisions and actions of the United States, which provides personal security for him. Iraqi's know first hand that Iraq has soverignty in name only.

But wait. The corporate media has reported four recent cases of Maliki making statements that conflict with US policy. For example, the US provides a timetable for Iraq to take over security, and Maliki says he does not agree to a timetable being imposed on Iraq. Now Maliki's dissent has become the news story.

One has to wonder, is Maliki's appearance of dissent being scripted? We know from former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Niel that Bush's Cabinet meetings were often scripted. We know that political handlers are very sensitive to how their story is going to play in the corporate media, in part because the superficial media dictates the rules for story telling.

One could let it go at that, but then I see something "funny" in an AP article. AP writs:

Al-Maliki's anger grew through the week until on Friday, al-Suneid said, the prime minister told Khalilzad: "I am a friend of the United States, but I am not America's man in Iraq." Hassan Senaid is one of the prime minister's closest advisors.

After Saturday's talks, White House spokesman Tony Snow said of al-Maliki: "He's not America's man in Iraq."

It looks like al-Suneid and Tony Snow are reading from the same US talking points.

Sources:

Associated Press, STEVEN R. HURST and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Oct. 28, 2006.
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