TOUGH CHOICES

By Ray Fleming FOR some time there have been reports of Washington's dissatisfaction with the performance of Iraq's prime minister, Nuri Kamal al–Maliki, who took over the job of running a “government of national unity” in May. The criticism of him is that he is indecisive and unduly favours the views of the Shiite members of his cabinet. Washington was also disillusioned by Mr al–Maliki's predecessor, Ibrahim al–Jafaari, who had the greatest difficulty in forming a cabinet. President Bush continues to insist that America will remain in Iraq ”until the job is done”. However on Tuesday, during a meeting in New York with the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, Mr Bush said something rather different. He told the president he wanted the Iraqis to know “that the United States stands with them, so long as the government continues to make the tough choices necessary for peace to prevail”. The qualification in that statement is extremely important and, I think, new. If Mr al–Maliki patently fails to make the tough choices it could provide Washington with an excuse for withdrawing even if the job has not been done. Still, Mr al–Maliki made one tough decision this week. He dismissed the judge who last week at Saddam Hussein's trial smiled kindly at the accused and said “You were not a dictator.” In Iraq finding a satisfactory judge for Hussein's trial seems to be as difficult as finding a satisfactory prime minister.