American president George Bush has once again made his intention clear when he pledged to keep the U.S. troops in Iraq till ‘the job is complete’. Speaking on the sideline of a summit in Jordan he reportedly said that troops would be stationed for as long as Nouri Maliki government wanted the troops in Iraq.
However, America’s cross-party Iraq Study Group is expected to submit their report somewhere next week. And the speculations are high that the group is likely to recommend changes in US policy. That means the group is likely to recommend a time bound withdrawal of forces and eventual talks with Iran and Syria.
On the other hand, Nouri Maliki was under tremendous pressure to not to hold meeting with the U.S. president to the extent that his own coalition government came under threat. The influential Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr has threatened to halt his participation in the government consequently putting the entire political equation in jeopardy.
