What happenedIraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faced intensifying pressure this week to take charge of his fractured country, as the White House sent strong signals of its lack of confidence in his leadership. A summit meeting between al-Maliki and President Bush in Amman, Jordan, was overshadowed by the publication in The New York Times of a classified memo, by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, which is highly critical of al-Maliki. In the memo, Hadley expresses doubts that al-Maliki can control the Shiite militias now conducting a campaign of vengeance killings against Sunnis, saying that al-Maliki "is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions," or simply incapable of exerting authority. Bush said he was meeting with al-Maliki primarily to ask, "What is your strategy in dealing with the sectarian violence?"
But at the same time as the White House ratcheted up the pressure, al-Maliki also faced anger from fellow Shiites in the political faction led by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Several Cabinet ministers and legislators protested al-Maliki's meeting with Bush—which they called "a provocation" — by refusing to perform their government functions for an unspecified time period.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Putin’s threat to fracture Ukrainefeature Fears that Russia was building a pretext for an invasion of eastern Ukraine grew, as pro-Kremlin protesters occupied government buildings in three cities.
-
Curbing NSA surveillance
feature The White House said it will propose a broad overhaul of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program.
-
Downsizing the military
feature A new budget plan for the Pentagon would save hundreds of billions of dollars by taking the military off its post-9/11 war footing.
-
Putin ratchets up pressure on Ukraine
feature Russian President Vladimir Putin put 150,000 troops at the Ukraine border on high alert and cut off $15 billion in financial aid.
-
Ukraine on the brink of civil war
feature Ukraine’s capital was engulfed in flames and violence when hundreds of riot police launched an assault on an anti-government protest camp.
-
Ukraine at the breaking point
feature An alliance of opposition groups vowed protests would continue until President Viktor Yanukovych is removed from power.
-
Dim prospects for Syrian talks
feature A long-awaited Syrian peace conference in Montreux, Switzerland, quickly degenerated into a cross fire of bitter accusations.
-
The fight over jobless benefits
feature A bill to restore federal benefits for the long-term unemployed advanced when six Republican senators voted with Democrats.