Reply #3: Al-Sadr threatened Maliki that he would opt out of the govt. [View All]

[EST]

if Maliki met with bush. Whether or not he would follow through on thet threat was moot, fiven that Sadr had the only reliable, loyal army to bring to the table.

If al Maliki loses al Sadr, he loses any chance of holding the government together. If he loses bush,well, fill in the blanks.

Lo-he can't meet with bush and he can't not meet with bush, so he pulled off the closest move he could and insulting bush won't lose him bush, but it may mollify al-Sadr.