Iraqi Army Chief Tries To Resign, Is Refused

By Cernig

While the clap harder crowd are convincing themselves, wrongly, that the surge is doing what it was meant to do - clear a space for an Iraqi political surge - they might want to consider this:

Erbil, 31 July (AKI) - The Iraqi army chief of staff, Babaker Zebari, has tendered his resignation to the prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, according to a report on Kurdish news portal Bayamunir. Zebari reportedly told the site that he had taken the decision "as a sign of protest at the attitude of the prime minister and his continuing meddling in the work of the head of the armed forces."

However, the site said, al-Maliki rejected his resignation.

Zebari said that "he did not want to be just a civil servant who signs the orders decided by the prime minister."

He added that "the regional president of Iraqi Kurdistan Massoud Barzani will look at the question with al-Maliki during their meeting in Baghdad."

Zebari is the first Kurd to have held this high level posting since the formation of the Iraqi republic in 1958. In the past he had been the military commander of the Peshmerga forces during the years of the Kurdish resistance against the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

No matter which way you try to parse it, it isn't good news.