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May 1, 2006 [LINK]
Rice & Rummy meet Iraqi P.M.
One of the little-noticed positive signs from Iraq lately was the agreement by the newly convened parliament to designate Nuri Kamil al-Maliki as prime minister. This represented a breakthrough for the cause of pluralism, a sign that the Shiite majority which makes up the "United Iraqi Alliance" recognizes that they must respect the Sunnis, in spite of the fact that many Sunnis sympathize with the terrorists. P.M. al-Maliki had been using a the first-name alias "Jawad" ever since he became an exiled victim of political persecution under Saddam Hussein, but he will use his real name from now on.
Secretaries Rice and Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq last week, a high-profile show of support for the fledgling democratic regime in Baghdad. Today they briefed President Bush, who expressed firm U.S. support for the new government. One of their main concerns they conveyed to P.M. al-Maliki was the imperative of "establishing control over militias and other unauthorized armed groups..." See defenselink.mil. The previous likely P.M., Ibrahim Jaafari Ashayqar, was considered too soft on the (often fanatical) militia forces that are undermining central authority in Baghdad.
U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq?
The Pentagon is considering reducing U.S. troop levels in Iraq from about 130,000 now to under 100,000 by the end of the year. That would correspond to a redeployment of five combat brigades back to the continental United States, leaving only ten brigades in Iraq. Of course, much depends on how well Iraqi army and police units perform. At the peak in December, providing extra security for the elections, 160,000 U.S. service men and women were in Iraq. See CNN.com. So far, so good, but let's wait and see who will try to take credit for this (probable) redeployment as the November elections approach.
Sixty five Americans died in Iraq last month, the first month-to-month increase since last October. The total number of American military fatalities in that conflict now stands at 2,379.
Note that the table of fatalities in past wars, and the list of military books, have been moved from the bottom of the War blog page to the new War introduction page, which also has background text that used to be on the Military forces page.
Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 01 May 2006, 8: 49 PM
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Category archives:
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This (or that) year's
blog highlights
January 7, 2006 ~ DeLay gives up majority leader post
January 12, 2006 ~ Alito withstands Dems' "torture"
January 16, 2006 ~ Michelle Bachelet wins in Chile
January 19, 2006 ~ Views on Iran's nuclear ambitions
January 24, 2006 ~ Fallout from Canada's election
January 31, 2006 ~ Second (& third) thoughts on Iran
February 1, 2006 ~ The State of the Union, 2006
February 8, 2006 ~ D.C. Council votes "yes," but...
February 18, 2006 ~ Checks and balances in wartime
February 22, 2006 ~
Neocons & Neolibs: chastened alike
February 28, 2006 ~
The Dubai Ports World uproar
March 14, 2006 ~ New D.C. baseball stadium unveiled
March 24, 2006 ~ In the footsteps of France?
April 7, 2006 ~ Immigration compromise fails
May 16, 2006 ~ Bush militarizes Mexican border
June 6, 2006 ~ Alan Garcia triumphs, once again
June 9, 2006 ~
Zarqawi: The death of a terrorist
July 3, 2006 ~
Election in Mexico: too close to call
July 5, 2006 ~ North Korea goes ballistic
July 28, 2006 ~ Garcia prepares to lead Peru, again
August 4, 2006 ~ Israel invades Hezbolland
September 6, 2006 ~ "Crunchy conservatives": for real?
September 25, 2006 ~ Nationalists thwart conservation
October 3, 2006 ~ Nationals: Year in review
October 29, 2006 ~ Virginia's marriage amendment
November 7, 2006 ~ The people render their verdict
November 8, 2006 ~ Republicans lose big time
November 9, 2006 ~ Allen concedes / Election post-mortem
November 13, 2006 ~ Toward consensus on Iraq?
December 1, 2006 ~ Realism and our goals in Iraq
December 6, 2006 ~ Latin America & U.S. trade policy
December 8, 2006 ~ Iraq Study Group reports
December 22, 2006 ~ Yuletide political roundup
Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.
Explanation
The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:
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Also see: My blog practices.
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