I had no freaking idea about any of this. And I'd love to get more information / corrections / whatever.

(All the Arabic names are hard to keep straight, but I think this is right.)

The current Prime Minister in Iraq is Nouri al-Maliki. He is also, according to Wikipedia, the deputy leader (second-in-command?) of the Islamic Dawa (rough translation: Islamic Call) Party.

This al-Dawa party (why is it sometimes just "Dawa" and sometimes "al-Dawa"? I don't have any idea) was formed in the late 1950s by a group of Shi'ite leaders, with Muhammad Baqr al-Sadr, the uncle of Muqtada al-Sadr, playing a prominent role in its founding. (Remember Muqtada al-Sadr? He was one of the US's big enemies during earlier parts of the Iraq war.) Anyway, the al-Dawa party has been known as a terrorist group for a long time. They committed terrorist attacks against Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Wikipedia: "It attempted to assassinate Tariq Aziz, Hussein's longtime loyalist, in 1980; and attempted to assassinate Hussein himself in 1982 and 1987. In 1983 it simultaneously bombed the American and French embassies in Kuwait and several other domestic and foreign targets in Kuwait. This led to the imprisonment of the "Kuwait 17" in Kuwait, 12 of which were Iraqis in al-Dawa."

So, the President is the head of a terrorist organization. And not just any terrorist organization, but one with strong ties to Hezbollah. In fact, "Freeing the al-Dawa prisoners in Kuwait was one of the main objectives of a string of kidnappings and bombings perpetrated by Hezbollah over the next several years." (Wikipedia again)

In fact, the Iraqi Dawa helped to form the Lebanese Hezbollah in the early 1980s.

So. Our guy in Iraq is closely linked to Hezbollah. And of course, he's on the side of Hezbollah against Israel in that fight over there. Apparently some stupid Democratic Senators & Representatives are calling on him (as Iraq's Prime Minister) to condemn Hezbollah and praise Israel. ( http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060726/pl ... 0726065319 ) Um, guys, ain't gonna happen. He's on the other team.

"To stand with America, you have to stand against terrorism," said Senator Chuck Schumer at a press conference, condemning al-Miliki. Um, yeah, Chuck. Good one.

All this "you're either with us or against us" rhetoric is a little difficult to apply in this situation.

That is all. Strange bedfellows. Strange situation.

The Iraqi PM was in town to give a speech to Congress, basically to state that Iraq is part of the war on terror and the US shouldn't pull out, so Schumer is trying to discredit him and get in a dig at Bush & Co.

It is kind of an amusing situation. Or tragic.

We're fighting in Iraq ... on the side of the Iraqi government. But the Iraqi government is not now, and is not likely ever to be, our ally. If anything, when push comes to shove, they are going to fight against us and our allies.

On the other hand, it's just as weird for Iraq. They are sending their army out on patrols with the US army, cooperating with us, asking for our help -- while at the same time, we are sending bombs to Israel to help Israel attack Hezbollah, which the Iraqi government considers their ally.