The U.S. Is Starting To Talk To 'Old Friends' In Iraq

The US general David Petraeus and the visiting Barack Obama fly from Baghdad airport to the Green Zone in a helicopter (July 21, 2008). Photograph: Reuters

U.S. Taps Old Allies For New Iraq War -- Eli Lake, Daily Beast

U.S. troops in Iraq is just the start. The Obama administration is also reaching out to a host of one-time friends as it ramps up its campaign against ISIS.

President Obama isn’t just sending in the Green Berets as he begins to re-enter the war in Iraq. U.S. diplomats and military officers are also reaching out to discarded tribal allies and even the Iraqi who progressives blame for tricking George W. Bush into invading Iraq in the first place.

On Wednesday, Brett McGurk, the senior State Department official responsible for policy on Iraq, met in Baghdad at the home of Ahmed Chalabi, the former exile leader who was supported by neoconservatives inside the Bush administration before the Iraq war.

The meeting, first reported by The New York Times, was the first time McGurk had traveled to Chalabi’s Baghdad estate, according to Chalabi’s Washington adviser, Francis Brooke. “They discussed the current politics and Dr. Chalabi told him it would be very difficult for (Nouri al) Maliki to continue as prime minister,” Brooke told The Daily Beast.

Read more ....

My Comment: It looks like President Obama is taking the President George Bush handbook on Iraq .... sighhh .... I am not sure if that is a good move.

Update: Here is a good New York Times article that examines Iraqi politics .... Challengers Emerge to Replace Divisive Maliki (NYT). Bottom line .... Iraq Prime Minister al-Maliki is not going to leave voluntarily.