SeekerBlog

Via Glenn, the Guardian reports apparent progress by the Maliki government:

Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, and fellow leaders in the country have reached consensus on key areas of national reconciliation, under mounting US pressure to demonstrate political progress on the eve of a key report to Congress on the Baghdad security “surge”.

The Shia prime minister appeared on television flanked by Jalal Talabani, the country’s Kurdish president, and the Sunni vice-president, Tareq al-Hashemi, to announce a deal on easing restrictions on former members of the Ba’ath party joining the civil service and military.

Easing de-Ba’athification laws passed after the 2003 US invasion has long been seen as a vital step if disenchanted Sunnis, who formed the backbone of Saddam Hussein’s regime and, since its fall, of the insurgency, are to be persuaded to take part in Iraqi political life.

Agreement was also reported on holding provincial elections and releasing detainees held without charge across the country, two more of the “benchmarks” set by the Bush administration for political movement it hopes will stave off mounting congressional demands for a withdrawal from Iraq.

Too early to judge the significance of the announcement. Especially since Allawi has withdrawn from the unity coalition this weekend:

In separate comments, Mr Maliki lashed out at his detractors with invective that focused on the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. At the end of a week that saw George Bush make a rare attack on the Iraqi leadership, Mr Maliki ridiculed US politicians who talked about the country “as if it were one of their villages”. At a press conference in Baghdad, he reserved his harshest words for Mrs Clinton and her Democratic colleague Senator Carl Levin, saying they needed to “come to their senses”.

Mrs Clinton has made criticism of the Bush administration’s prosecution of the war a mainstay of her presidential campaign. After a two-day trip to Iraq with Mr Levin, she last week added her voice to a growing list of influential Americans calling for the removal of Mr Maliki. She urged the Iraqi parliament to replace him with a “less divisive and more unifying figure”.

There were further signs of Mr Maliki’s weakening grip on power when the former temporary prime minister, Ayad Allawi, removed his faction from the “unity” government on Saturday and put himself forward as an alternative.