I know all of you are dying to hear my take on the two-day-old news that Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) suggested that Prime Minister Maliki has failed and it's time to replace him with a new government. President Bush then pointedly avoided endorsing Maliki in comments about the situation in Iraq.
Makiki fired back from Damascus (!) that it was up to the Iraqi people to choose their government, not American politicians. Then Bush, chastened in turn, gave halfhearted support to Maliki in further comments -- which have been overshadowed by the new gambit to compare withdrawal from Iraq to the disasters that befell Southeast Asia after American withdrawal from Vietnam.
I think all of this is positive for Iraq. Levin was essentially right in his assessment of the current Iraqi political situation, and Maliki did what any statesman in that situation had to. Maybe this whole episode will force Maliki and the current Iraqi coalition government to actually make political hay.
Incidentally, I saw Levin with Sen. John Warner (R-VA) smoking cigars by the embassy pool when they were here visiting last week.
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