Turncoat Maliki

From CNN.com

My angry input, in italics below was posted earlier today but edited - (toned down and clarified @ 1726hrs Baghdad time.)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is accusing U.S. troops of violating the security agreement between the two countries after a raid in Wasit province Sunday that left two people dead, Iraqi State TV reported.

U.S. troops raided a house in the city of Kut and arrested six suspected members of so-called "special groups" -- groups that are funded, armed and trained by Iran, according to the U.S. military.

During the operation, which the military said was "fully coordinated and approved by the Iraqi government," a man and a woman were killed by U.S. troops, the military said.

Al-Maliki's accusation that the United States violated the security pact is the first time the Iraqi government has claimed a breach in the deal that governs the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq. It was reached last November and implemented in January.

Under the agreement, the U.S. military cannot carry out raids without Iraqi permission and warrants. And Iraq has primary jurisdiction over members of the U.S. military who commit "grave premeditated felonies" outside of certain geographical boundaries and when they are off duty.

Al-Maliki has asked Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, to release the suspects detained in the raid, and to hand over "those who committed the crime" -- or U.S. troops -- to the Iraqi judiciary, state television reported.

The U.S. military statement said when troops approached the residence, "an individual with a weapon came out of the home. Forces assessed him to be hostile, and they engaged the man, killing him," the U.S. military statement said.

A woman who "moved into the line of fire" was also killed in the shooting, the U.S. military said.

An Interior Ministry official told CNN the raid was on the home of a tribal leader, and said U.S. forces killed the leader's wife and brother and detained a number of family members.

Speaking on Iraqi State TV, the deputy governor of Wasit province called the killings "cold-blooded murder."

The U.S. military said there was a warrant issued for the arrest of the targeted individual -- "a network financier, who is also responsible for smuggling weapons into the country to support JAM Special Groups and Promise Day Brigade," a U.S. military statement said.

Iraqi State TV reported that Iraq's defense ministry ordered the arrest of two Iraqi commanders in Kut who apparently allowed the U.S. military to carry out the raid.

The CNN article above is the worst scenario for soldiers here in Iraq. This redirects violence at us. Such a large number of people in Iraq remain in a perpetual state of retaliation. Whether you kill a member of their family (which is the closest to being understandable), or move their belongings from one truck to another*.

Humans naturally always look for anyone other than themselves to blame at first, and why fundamentalist Arabs here sustain this state and galvanize with violence is beyond understanding. When you think God's on your side you become dangerous.

I feel al-Maliki is behaving like a fool. Not because there is no truth in his claim of the US violating the agreement but because of the incindiary way he is handling the situation.

A major element of US military safety here is the Iraqi Army which is set up on the outskirts of our FOB, and will move in when we leave. For some time my fear has been that people here would transfer (or take a break from) their tendencies toward each other and redirect at us out of a single incident, large or small.

At the two installations where I've been stationed, FOB Freedom and Camp Echo both, the African workers for US contractors that stand at the gate between us and the Iraqi camps have been the center of many a soldierly joke. The corporation banks off the US taxpayer, brings in low wage workers from Africa, just trying to make a better living, sticks a rifle in their hands, and puts a helmet on their heads, says here guard this. The following is a link to this story

http://www.kare11.com/news/national/national_article.aspx?storyid=652032&catid=18

In spite of all the news good and bad since I've been deployed to Iraq, these latest news items are the most discouraging from my perspective, in country. It's time to drop the mindless forms of political correctness, go home or onto locations where we can make a difference and let Iraq have its madness. As well, back home, it's time to clamp down on the real axis of evil: greedy corporate America. They've had a chance to prove that libertarian capitalism is a good thing and blew it. Now the government has to step in, and probably will overcompensate and go to far, but that will be the price free enterprise will pay.

*we sent away, well banished actually, one of our interpreters because he was in such a rage for three days strait because some of his stuff was moved from one truck to another. He was only without it for an hour.