Nu kan det snart ikke siges tydeligere:
Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said Monday there would be no security agreement between the United States and Iraq without an unconditional timetable for withdrawal — a direct challenge to the Bush administration, which insists that the timing for troop departure would be based on conditions on the ground.
“No pact or agreement should be set without being based on full sovereignty, national common interests, and no foreign soldier should remain on Iraqi land, and there should be a specific deadline and it should not be open,” Maliki told a meeting of tribal Sheikhs in Baghdad.
Maliki said that the United States and Iraq had agreed that all foreign troops would be off Iraqi soil by the end of 2011. “There is an agreement actually reached, reached between the two parties on a fixed date, which is the end of 2011, to end any foreign presence on Iraqi soil,” Maliki said.
Den irakiske regering vil have amerikanerne ud, og de mener helt ud. Pinligt for Bush-regeringen, der gerne vil fastholde en “strategisk” tilstedeværelse, og ikke mindst pinligt for en kommende præsident McCain, der gerne ser USA blive i landet i hundrede år eller så.
Det er også pinligt for amerikanerne, at al-Maliki – som står i spidsen for den regering, amerikanerne selv understøtter og står som garanter for – er Irans største ven i området. Udover de store mængder død og lidelse, Irak-krigen har afstedkommet, kan dens nettoresultat ende med at blive, at den arabiske del af Irak nu er Irans bedste ven og vigtigste allierede. Nok ikke lige det, man regnede med for fem år siden.