http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/checkpointbaghdad/archive/2008/10/16/maliki-tightens-control.aspxBy Lennox Samuels Foreign and Iraqi observers alike have been noting Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s increasingly assertive conduct, dating back to his ambitious operation last March to wrest control of Basra from militias that had reduced the southernenCommunityServer 2.1 SP2 (Debug Build: 2.18)http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/checkpointbaghdad/archive/2008/10/16/maliki-tightens-control.aspx#725230Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:07:40 GMT544c64cf-7058-4151-925a-a0fd041e73dd:725230Omnius<p>&quot;Puppet&quot; Al Maliki is learning the tricks of tyranny from the master of tyranny &quot;Puppetmaster&quot; Bush. &nbsp;Have no doubts that Al Maliki is our friend, he is not! &nbsp;As soon as he can kick us out he'll be palling around with that creepy dictator from Iran, his true puppetmaster. &nbsp;Worst decision and waste of taxpayer money ever was to invade Iraq.</p> Blog: Checkpoint Baghdadhttp://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/checkpointbaghdad/archive/2008/10/16/maliki-tightens-control.aspx#725242Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:12:30 GMT544c64cf-7058-4151-925a-a0fd041e73dd:725242Loden Green<p>Al-Malaki i ssetting himself up to be the next &quot;strongman&quot; in Iraq. it won't be long until he'll have his own &quot;internal security&quot; forces whose primary function will be to keep him in power by any any means possible. Welcome to the future in Iraq.</p> Blog: Checkpoint Baghdad