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Iraq's leader gains crucial ally, but his constituents are wary


WestVirginiaRebel

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WestVirginiaRebel
AR2010101105784
Washington Post:

BAGHDAD - As Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki inches closer to securing the parliamentary support he needs to keep his job, he's losing popular support on the streets and stirring alarm in Washington and Arab regional capitals.

The decision by the Shiite Sadrist movement, staunchly opposed to the U.S. presence in Iraq, to back Maliki's nomination for prime minister has boosted his chances for a second term. But voters who cast their ballots for him on March 7 say he's sacrificing their security and their votes for his political survival as Iraq enters its eighth month with no new administration.

Maliki's supporters credit him with ridding the streets of the Mahdi Army, the militant wing of the Sadr movement. But his campaign promise to continue to improve security appears to have fallen by the wayside, capital residents say.

Iraqis in former Sadr strongholds say that Maliki is allowing the release and regrouping of Shiite militias to seal a political deal between him and what was his largest Shiite rival, the Sadrists. Hundreds of Shiite militants have been released in the past few weeks to help ensure Sadrist backing of Maliki's nomination, they say.
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In Iraq, yesterday's enemy is today's political consituency... :wacko:
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