The Allawi machine is afoot

As close as Allawi is to the US, and as hard as he's working to curry US support, if this ever does go down, there can be little doubt that it was given White House approval.

A mixed group of moderate Iraqi politicians is trying to rally support in the parliament for a no-confidence vote that would unseat unpopular Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The effort is led by Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite who served as interim prime minister of Iraq from June 2004 to April 2005. It is unclear whether Allawi, who spends most of his time in Jordan, can muster enough parliamentary votes or popular support to be a viable alternative to al-Maliki.

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