Can someone point me to the section in the U.S. Constitution where it says that Americans should give a flying fuck about the internal affairs of a Middle Eastern country?

Good or bad that last paragraph represents what is going to be the end state in Iraq no matter how many variations and sock puppets we run through; a Shia dominated state with an emotional, historical and religious bias to see that Sunnis never maintain any real control in Iraq ever again.

Go look at the Shia to Sunni population figures again.

Can someone point me to the section in the U.S. Constitution where it says that Americans should give a flying fuck about the internal affairs of a Middle Eastern country?

That's why you shred it. Then you can use the letters to spell anything you want, and it's still the constitution (you know, in stupid land). Saves time and money looking for loopholes. For example, this part of the 1st amendment or abridging the freedom of speech can be rearranged to A Described Preferment Of High Goo.
or of the press can be turned into Prefers Shoot, Refer Ho Posts, Steer For Shop, and my personal favorite, Ferret Hops So.
As wonderful as they are, I so wish that reading Douglas Adams The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (best 5 part trilogy ever written) had left me in my own dimension, instead of sucking me into this one.

Kahl apparently thinks that Maliki has become supremely overconfident, to the point where he thinks he really doesn't need American help anymore and can crush the Sunni opposition anytime he wants. This is, to say the least, not encouraging news on the political reconciliation front.

Agree that's not encouraging news on the political reconciliation front. But that assumes reconciliation is a priority for Maliki, or that the US retains much leverage on that front.

I don't get the sense Maliki feels he can take on the Sunni opposition without US help. More like he is confident that if he pushes this to a showdown, the US will have no option but to side with him or remain on the sidelines.

If that's where Maliki is headed, his estimation is probably right; there would be no good alternatives for the US; going back to square 1 (or even square 2) is not going to fly in the US, and Maliki must know that.

So, the result of 5 years of war is replacing an oppressive Shi'ite government with an oppressive Sunni government. Way to go, neocons.

So, the result of the war is replacing a repressive Sunni government with a repressive Shi'ite government. Way to go, neocons.

Oops, thought I cancelled the first comment in time.

Jasper illustrates perfectly why this country is so fucked - when a shit-for-brains like him thinks that no one should question these unAmerican, wasteful, completely unproductive misadventures that conservatives take this country on.

Kahl apparently thinks that Maliki has become supremely overconfident, to the point where he thinks he really doesn't need American help anymore and can crush the Sunni opposition anytime he wants. This is, to say the least, not encouraging news on the political reconciliation front.

We decided a long time ago to take sides with the Shia against the Sunni. Surely our prolonged occupation and support of the Shia has significantly enhanced Maliki's power.

And every time somebody mentions Al-Qaeda in Iraq as a serious entity, I shake my head in wonderment at the success of the Bush propaganda machine.

Kevin Drum: [Kahl says Maliki] thinks they're thugs

So does one of the U.S. commanders, who was quoted saying something like "we're not going to add 60,000 thugs to the Iraqi Army" just a month ago.