Progress

Daily Kos Staff

Friday August 24, 2007 · 7:12 PM PDT

2007/08/24 · 19:12

Remember this when the ~~Petraeus~~ White House report comes 'round in a few weeks. While the adminstration is doing its damnedest to move the goalposts on the goals of the escalation, this was the stated goal, from Bush himself:

When this happens, daily life will improve, Iraqis will gain confidence in their leaders, and the government will have the breathing space it needs to make progress in other critical areas. Most of Iraq’s Sunni and Shia want to live together in peace — and reducing the violence in Baghdad will help make reconciliation possible.

Fast forward seven months.

BAGHDAD, Aug. 24 -- Escalating a political crisis that has paralyzed the Iraqi government, three secular cabinet members will formally resign Saturday, according to a senior member of the group.

The Iraqi National List, an umbrella group of several political parties composed of secular Sunnis and Shiites, had boycotted cabinet meetings since Aug. 7 because of frustrations with what they saw as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's divisive leadership style. The party, headed by former prime minister Ayad Allawi, will now submit the official resignations, National List member Iyad Jamal al-Deen said.

"We have sent several letters to the prime minister asking for a discussion that would keep us in the government, and he did not respond to any of them," Deen said. "Our participation in the government would have no meaning now, so we will not participate."

Now that Allawi is on a full-fledged, GOP supported campaign to oust Maliki, and has taken all his marbles and gone home, I think we can sink the final nails into that escalation-for-political-reconciliation plan, however ~~Petraeus~~ the White House cares to spin it in their report.

Congress, your move.

Progress

Comments are closed on this story.