Continuing consternation

No wonder Iraq war critics in the Congress and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki are frustrated with each other. Today, the Associated Press says, al-Maliki told reporters that his job of reconciling factions in the Iraqi government was very difficult and the Americans calling for his replacement have it wrong. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in the 2008 election, and Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, among others, have called for al-Maliki to step down. On top of that, just days after an independent U.S. panel called for an overhaul of the Iraqi security forces, the British announced that they were turning over more control over southern Iraq to those same Iraqi security forces. How can all of these things be correct? It looks like nobody knows what's really going on, even though they profess to. Is it any wonder that the Iraq occupation is a mess? I guess we're all frustrated.