Iraq Can't Expel Blackwater After All

It turns out that the Maliki government needs them too badly. It appears that Iraqis are stuck with the hated private security firms running around the country above the law. This is one more grudge in a country already full of them.

Whatever you do, don't talk to them!

Juan Cole has linked to an article that states that the Bush administration is pressuring Iraq leaders not to have the Iranian president visit them. Real leaders never talk to their enemies, right Ronald Reagan? Oh... Never mind.

How ready are Iraq's soldiers?

In spite of the Iraqi government's insistence that it can take over responsibility for Iraq's security, Juan Cole analyzes the numbers that General Pace has laid out for the press:

"In fact, the important figure is how many can operate independently. That means that they will go to the front when ordered, will actually fight, won't run away, and might actually accomplish something, even if there are no US troops anywhere nearby. Iraq apparently has about 3,000 troops of that description. My guess is that they are mostly Kurdish Peshmerga on loan from Kurdistan. I.e., Iraq probably has almost no Arab troops who would and could fight independently for the al-Maliki government, as opposed to cannon fodder pushed before US battalions and afraid of being shot as deserters if they turn tail."

So they have 3000 guys who can enforce the rule of the central government in all of Iraq. Great. Al-Maliki, I call bullshit.