A Coup Underway In Baghdad?

Apparently Iraq’s Prime Minister al Maliki learned something from the Obama administration: Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste!

The breaking news story this morning ( here and here) is that just four days after President Obama authorized our military to use air strikes against the ISIS in northern Iraq the supposedly out going Prime Minister has decided not to go. CNN has more:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced Monday that he intends to stay in office for a third term, much to the chagrin of U.S. and other world leaders, who say the ability defend against the radical Sunni group ISIS is contingent on forming a more inclusive government.

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Iraqi forces and tanks surged into some Baghdad neighborhoods Sunday as a wave of troops swarmed Baghdad’s green zone, the secure area where many government buildings and the U.S. Embassy are located, two Iraqi police officials said.

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“You’ve got Nuri al-Maliki refusing to step down. Now he’s mobilized not just security troops loyal to him, but now he’s mobilized army units to put tanks in the streets,” said retired Lt. Col. Rick Francona, a CNN military analyst.

And, the US government’s official position?

“The United States fully supports President Fuad Masum in his role as guarantor of the Iraqi constitution,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Sunday.

What about the estimate 50,000 Yazidis and other (Christian?) minorities trapped the ISIS on a mountain top near Sinjar? Well, the US military is doing as much as they can by airlifting need supplies to the stranded refugees and also they are bombing ISIS artillery sites. But, the only way to save those poor souls on that mountain top is with boots on the ground. Those boots on the ground were and have been supplied by Kurdish military units and the Iraqi military. Unfortunately for those poor souls, the new Iraqi president appointed by parliment, Fuad Masum, that Maliki refuses to recognize, is a Kurd. And, Maliki appears to be using the military loyal to him to consolidate his hold on  power. It doesn’t look good for the refugees at Sinjar.

In my opinion, what we are witnessing in Iraq _ and the Middle East in general _ is the unintended consequences of US foreign policy over the last 14+ years. At least I hope these consequences were unintended.

Well, that’s what I’m thinking. What are your thoughts?