Democracy in Iraq? Maliki's purge squad

There was an article in the 12/17 issue of the Times entitled 35 Iraq Officials Held in Raids on Key Ministry which a round-up of officials who were ostensibly tied to some sort of surreptitious Ba'ath network. This squad had also conducted a raid on a provincial council which rounded up the sole Sunni Arab on it. One of the noteworthy points of the article was that the arrests were made by a force that reports directly to Maliki.

He not only has failed to integrate the Sunnis of the Awakening Councils into the Defense and Interior Ministries, he has started trying to round up many of their leaders. Indeed, McClatchy reported back in August that his government actually aspires to disband the vast majority of them.

I have to wonder if Maliki's "victory" over Sadr in Basra has got him believing his own press regarding how formidable he is. He has had the space to function because the Sunnis felt more threatened by al-Qaida then by him and because the US bankrolled them. His aggressive actions against them threaten the first and his reluctance to take them into the security apparatus after the US pulls out will go far to undo the effects of the latter.

The fact that he is also ticking off the Kurds over federalism and oil issues suggests that he is either delusional over what he can accomplish once American firepower and money start leaving Iraq or he is banking on Iran to back his plays.