PM al-Maliki: 'Yes, It's Ok If The U.S. Leaves'.

Prime Minister al-Maliki goes off-script. If the no-confidence vote doesn't get him, Dick Cheney will. From the AP-

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police are capable of keeping security in the country when American troops leave "any time they want," though he acknowledged the forces need further weapons and training....

...[O]ne of his top aides, Hassan al-Suneid, rankled at the [U.S. benchmark] assessment, saying the U.S. was treating Iraq like "an experiment in an American laboratory." He sharply criticised the U.S. military, saying it was committing human rights violations, embarassing the Iraqi government with its tactics and cooperating with "gangs of killers" in its campaign against al-Qaida in Iraq.

Al-Suneid's comments were a rare show of frustration toward the Americans from within al-Maliki's inner circle as the prime minister struggles to overcome deep divisions between Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish members of his coalition and enact the American-drawn list of benchmarks...

Benchmarks? Dude, the White House just said they were never serious about that shit anyway! Basically, they say that this is the most existential struggle of all time... but it's best that no one thinks or talks about it too much.

So relax, dude! Take the day off! Heck, take a whole month! Clear some brush!

One person in Iraq strongly supports the continuation of the U.S. occupation and an expansion of our war into Iran... Abu Sarhan, a leader in the al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia franchise. Said Sarhan, "I personally don't have a hatred of the American people, and I respect American civilization... The real enemy for the resistance is Iran and those working for Iran. Because Iran has a feud which goes back thousands of years with the people of Iraq and the government of Iraq."

Sounds like a guy Joe Lieberman and the neocons would love. Iraq, meet your new Prime Minister!