Allawi partially withdraws

I'm not really too sure what to make of Allawi's boycott of cabinet meetings, but it's not good, and it doesn't send a signal of strength and confidence in Maliki's government. Allawi is not withdrawing his 5 ministers from their posts, but they are going to boycott the cabinet meetings.

By my count, 17 of the 37 cabinet chairs now sit empty, and there are no Sunnis participating in the "unity government."

Of some interest, the administration's stance towards Maliki seems to be shifting a little.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who has been trying to broker the Sunni bloc's return in a bid to hold the government together, met Monday with Crocker and a White House envoy.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States was working well with the al-Maliki government, but he did not give the kind of enthusiastic endorsement that President Bush and his aides once did.

"There's a very healthy political debate that is going on in Iraq, and that is good," McCormack said. "It's going to be for them (the Iraqi people) to make the judgments about whether or not that government is performing."

The US has wasted alot of legitimacy and effort propping up the Maliki government long after the Iraqis had given up on it. The Iraqis have been preparing for months for what comes next, while the US has not participated in this because of the US political ramifications regarding "the surge" and public sentiment.

Now, we're outside and behind the process.

Meanwhile, Dick Cheney continued to argue today that America's enemy in Iraq is predominantly al Qaeda.

(And who is the White House envoy trying to broker the Sunni deal? Hadley? With the internal policy divisions in this White House, it makes a big difference.)