al-Maliki goes to Washington

There are really two highlights in this story (three, if you count the edit two posts down):

Firstly, one thing Iraqis would like to see is for U.S.-led troops in Iraq who commit criminal acts (noncombatant murder, rape, etc.) to be tried under Iraqi law. It seems the demand for this is great because no one else is even reprimanding the troops for such behavior, let alone punish them in some fashion. The people of Iraq are rightly outraged: How can they be sure we are there for their best interests if some of our troops (and I'm sure it is a SMALL number of troops) are committing heinous acts against civilians without consequence? If the consequence is not having a few American soldiers pay for their criminal actions, it may well be, in the end, even more dead American soldiers, and an eventually bloodier civil war. Of course, Bush will likely refuse al-Maliki's request on this issue. Hopefully, some compromise can be reached. Justice should not be dismissed just because the soldiers were American. Think if it was your family member on the wrong end of a criminal in another country's military uniform. You'd want him punished to no end, for sure, and especially so if you knew that his military (and, by proxy, his country) had no plans to do so.

Secondly, a comment from a senior administration official: "We hope [al-Maliki] comes with his own plan" for Iraq. Well, I guess the Bush cabal needs a plan to steal, since they have not had one of their own for upwards of three years now.

Yeah, let's stay the course. Right into that brick wall over there...

-R.