As George W. Bush agonises over which bits of last week’s Baker-Hamilton report to adopt for his forthcoming “new way forward in Iraq” announcement, another consensus is emerging in Washington on how to handle the situation: blame the Iraqis.
Although informed observers say that the writ of the Iraqi government stops at the perimeter of the Green Zone – the heavily fortified enclave in the centre of Baghdad – leading Republican and Democratic politicians are increasingly blaming Nouri al-Maliki’s friable coalition government for a lack of progress.
