The Wall Street Journal quotes Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Fellow Ramzy Mardini on President Obama’s decision to send 300 advisers to Iraq to help resolve the conflict there:
Since he was re-elected in 2010, Mr. Maliki has co-opted the most important institutions—many of them established by the U.S.—for his own political use, U.S. officials say. The judiciary, election commission, central bank and military all act as little more than tools of Mr. Maliki and his Shiite allies.
“Maliki has become too entrenched. He’s not just one man, he embodies a regime,” said Ramzy Mardini, an Iraq expert.