When Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki was asked about allegations that he gave tribal leaders pistols, emblazoned with a personal stamp, he openly defended the action.

“Some people criticize me for giving people pistols,” he said during a meeting with security officials broadcast on television. “Honestly, I wish I could give a pistol and a rifle to each one who stood beside the government against the gangs to express our appreciation.”

(( insert stock photo of Mao Tse-tung here ))

Healthy days.

The Kurdish control of Christian towns is without any logic, and they will have to relinquish them whether by a, fair, polling of the real residents or by force. The area is flat, without forests or many trees, and the Peshmerga will not be able to hold on to it under any conditions.

The Hadbaa Party, headed by the Governor, benefits enormously from the Barazani threats and the bizarre use of force to prevent the Governor from visiting parts of his own province.

General Odeirno is trying to use the friction to maintain US troops in the north post-2011 to help his Peshmerga allies, but he does not have a hope in hell. Both Baghdad and Washington are firmly against it and he needs the agreement of both.