Of course his premise is correct- it requires time to work through the enormous tasks of establishing a new government- that isn’t my problem with his statement.
I do, however take exception to:
..”Those who make such statements are bothered by our visit to Syria. We will pay no attention. We care for our people and our constitution and can find friends elsewhere,” Mr. al-Maliki said.
-That strikes me as completely over the top. The implication is that the US does not care for Iraq or it’s constitution.
Well, when we have Congressional loudmouths spouting off about the need to "remove" an elected Iraqi government, or constantly musing about whether we should impose this or that set of "benchmarks" or "timetables" on the Iraqi government's actions regarding what (we insist) they must and must not do or accomplish by this or that date, and none of this (I assume) comes from or is in accordance with the Iraqi constitution - in other words, I doubt the constitution has a provision such as "at all times, the Iraqi government must do whatever some U.S. congressman insist it must do, by the dates the U.S. congressman insists it does it" - then I can sorta forgive him for saying that the U.S. doesn't care about the Iraq constitution.
As for the rest of it, the "find friends elsewhere" stuff, seems to me this is just the usual Arab politician walking a tricky tightrope and triangulating. Arab politicians who don't, or don't know how to, do this are liable to end up dead.
Because in fairness, you have to understand that this guy, like all members of the Iraqi government, faces an ongoing prospect of him and his family being murdered. At present he is allied with us and that fact helps protect him, but one suspects he is preparing for the day when he can no longer rely on the U.S. - and I can't honestly say he is wrong to do so.
Think again. The Democrats give a rat's a** for Iraq and it's constitution, and they make no secret out of it. The rats are now the majority in Congress.
Sadly, al-Maliki is the quintessinal 16th century Arab—all bluster and bombast and no substance beyond the perimeter of his tent or village. I expect we’ll go through a lot of these tribalists before we find one or two Iraqis with truly national and international visions. Taking out Sadr and his thugs will go far toward neutralizing al-Maliki and his ilk. It would be interesting to know if this poor excuse of a leader ever gets up enough courage to leave the Green Zone in Baghdad and visit the people he claims to love.
Actually his statement is not implying anything about the US.
The implication is he is trying to deny that he doesn’t give a crap about Iraq or its constitution, and if anyone points out the truth, well, Iraq could find “friends” in Iran or Syria.