Maliki Scrambles to Address Deteriorating Iraqi Security
Iraq's leaders have no answers as they struggle to reassure Iraqis after a wave of terrorist bombings.
May 20 was a terrible day for the residents of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. It started as more than 10 car bombs detonated, killing and wounding dozens of civilians.
The scenes of destruction in Baghdad, Basra, Babel and other areas coincided with a political crisis on the verge of complete meltdown. In addition, many Iraqi observers were disappointed that the political forces did not reach peaceful solutions.
The demand by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki “to prevent civil war from taking place" reflects to some extent that the Iraqi elite's feeling that war will soon break out again, particularly since the climate that prevailed in 2006 and 2007 has been restored.
Maliki’s warnings came as Baghdad was targeted by a wave of large-scale bombings, and after the initiative for dialogue with protesters in the Anbar province failed with the withdrawal of cleric Abdul Malek al-Saadi, the spiritual leader of Sunnis in Iraq.
