Well, obviously people are more likely to find admirable qualities in people who agree with them.  I imagine that if Fred Kagan came out against the war or endorsed Barack Obama tomorrow, I'd begin to notice his intellectual honesty, logical rigor and rugged good looks in a way that I never had previously.  But Nouri al-Maliki isn't just some guy.  He's the head of the government that we're over there fighting for.  There's no logical problem in liberals finding him more appealing now that he supports American withdrawal and yet continuing to want our troops out of there.  There are plenty of governments not run by Iranian stooges that we would be unwise to send tens of thousands of American troops to support.  But for conservatives, attacking Maliki knocks the foundation out from under their entire argument.  We can't trust the Iraqi government when they say we should leave because they're a bunch of corrupt hacks and Iranisn stooges?  Fine, but then why do they want to carry on fighting to prop up that government?

This is profoundly insulting to the Iraqi people, who risked their lives to vote in larger turnout percentages than Americans manage under significantly less difficult circumstances, to ratify a constitution and elect a government that is the most representative and legitimate in the Arab world, if not Arab history.

The same idiots who called Maliki a US puppet immediately denounced him as an Iranian puppet when he welcomed Achmadinnerjacket to Baghdad.; wrote him off as totally dependent on Moqtada until he laid down the law in Basra, and now accuse him of unfairly handicapping the Sadrites' election campaign. Recent ABC/BBC polling shows the Maliki government to have 55% support in Sadr City, this AFTER they whacked Moqtada's outfit down south. That is a significantly higher level of support that that enjoyed by the President of the United States, who has more support than the Democrat Congress.

The only stooges in this story are Iglesius and his fellow-traveling Defeatocrats.

Excellent post, Jason. Well put. Maliki is not just a politician but an _arab_ politician operating in an extraordinarily complex political and social environment that few Americans even begin to understand, one in which lies, feints and disinformation are standard fare.

"one in which lies, feints and disinformation are standard fare."

I don't know. It seems to me that our overly simplified political environment has more than its share of lies, feints and disinformation.

GSpinks--

True up to a point, but then I suppose it's a matter of degree. It's my impression that in the Arab world no one EVER tells the truth, whereas here it does occasionally show up in the form of a gaffe.