So far left unsaid

One of the reasons the Bush administration is so aggressively negotiating the status of forces agreement with the Maliki government (or whatever they're calling the arrangement where the US stays indefinitely) is that, from their view, it needs to be in place before the scheduled October Iraqi elections.

Open elections will likely offer up a new Iraq that is more Sadrist, more nationalist Sunni, and less pro-American.

That's why Maliki went to Basra after all, to try and put his man in charge down there (Juan Cole.)