Hadley worried about Maliki's interpretation of reality

In a classified memo that was leaked to the New York Times.

Another classified memo was leaked to the New York Times, and appears in Wednesday's newspaper.  This memo was written by President Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.  In the memo, Hadley expresses a lack of optimism about Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's view of reality.  This memo from Hadley was sent to President Bush and his cabinet:

Here are some excerpts:

Maliki reiterated a vision of Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish partnership, and in my one-on-one meeting with him, he impressed me as a leader who wanted to be strong but was having difficulty figuring out how to do so...

...Despite Maliki’s reassuring words, repeated reports from our commanders on the ground contributed to our concerns about Maliki’s government. Reports of nondelivery of services to Sunni areas, intervention by the prime minister’s office to stop military action against Shia targets and to encourage them against Sunni ones, removal of Iraq’s most effective commanders on a sectarian basis and efforts to ensure Shia majorities in all ministries — when combined with the escalation of Jaish al-Mahdi’s (JAM) [the Arabic name for the Mahdi Army] killings — all suggest a campaign to consolidate Shia power in Baghdad.

Great.  So Maliki seems more interested in consolidating Shiite power than actually bringing Iraq together.  That brings us to the saddest part of this memo:

The information he receives is undoubtedly skewed by his small circle of Dawa advisers, coloring his actions and interpretation of reality. His intentions seem good when he talks with Americans, and sensitive reporting suggests he is trying to stand up to the Shia hierarchy and force positive change. But the reality on the streets of Baghdad suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into action.

Again, these were the words of Bush's National Security Adviser.  Simply stunning!  And only Bush's cabinet had access to this memo, probably indicating that it was one of them who leaked it.  Remember, decades ago it was Kissinger who leaked information about Nixon to the New York Times.  Therefore, it could be anybody within Bush's cabinet.

Here are some important links:

• Text of Stephen Hadley's classified memo
• The New York Times article that summarizes the memo

Comments

[George]

seems like pataki and corzine agree with hadley