360-Degrees, Redux

Events are moving quickly. Just the other day I wrote a post about the possible reaction we may see from the new US-installed Iraqi government over the goings on in Lebanon. Now it seems that already our supposed pro-western stalwart in the middle-east is starting to go sideways on us over Israel's military campaign there:

BAGHDAD Iraq, July 19 — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq on Wednesday forcefully denounced the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, marking a sharp break with President Bush’s position and highlighting the growing power of a Shiite Muslim identity across the Middle East.

“The Israeli attacks and airstrikes are completely destroying Lebanon’s infrastructure,” Mr. Maliki said at an afternoon news conference inside the fortified Green Zone, which houses the American Embassy and the seat of the Iraqi government. “I condemn these aggressions and call on the Arab League foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo to take quick action to stop these aggressions. We call on the world to take quick stands to stop the Israeli aggression.”

The American Embassy did not provide an immediate response.

Can anyone really consider this a surprise? If this is our favorite Iraqi talking, the one we praised so glowingly just a few months ago, I wonder what we can expect from the guys we don't like, like Muqtada al-Sadr? I'm not optimistic.

Talk about a self-defeating foreign policy.