Coup in Iraq

I don't know what to make of this. My guess is that these "rumors" are just propaganda for the Shia militias to justify their continued violence in the face of growing US pressure on Maliki to rein them in.

A Shiite Muslim political leader said Friday that rumors were circulating of an impending coup attempt against the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and warned that "we will not allow it.".....

Hadi al-Amiri, a member of parliament from Iraq's most powerful political party, said in a speech in the holy city of Najaf that "some tongues" were talking about toppling al-Maliki's Shiite-led government and replacing it with a "national salvation government, which we call a military coup government." He did not detail the allegation.

(Hadi al-Amiri is a parliamentarian and a top official in the Badr Brigade which is SCIRI's militia. SCIRI is the main pro-Iranian party in Iraq and one of the key Shia factions in al-Maliki's governing coalition.)

Later: CBSNews reported tonight that this is a "widespread rumor" throughout Iraq.

Later still: As a likelihood or as an expression of fact, I don't give this all that much creedence, but the fact that this rumor has legs tells me that it plays on some belief within at least a segment of the Iraqi people.