WHILE WE WERE AWAY. Believe it or not, it's possible for Iraq to slip even further into chaos. The Iraqi government -- not that it's really in charge of the country anyway -- is on the brink of collapse after Moqtada al-Sadr & company threatened to withdraw if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki goes ahead with his meeting with Bush in ... Amman (scheduled for Wednesday). As Spencer noted on his blog, this was an astute move by the Mookster, who is the beneficiary of a rising tide of Shi'ite anger provoked by the latest massive bombing attacks in Sadr City. Another round of deadly reprisal attacks on Sunnis may begin if Baghdad's curfew lifts later today.
The rapidly sinking Maliki, put in an impossible position, has said he's going ahead with the meeting with Bush. Maybe he's just trying to flee the country.
--Blake Hounshell