Before we get to the subject matter, anybody else shocked by the resemblance of this guy to UN official Javier Solana?

Compare the pictures-

This is the Iraqi Prime-Minister Nouri al-Maliki:



And this is UN guy Javier Solana:


But anyway, back to topic:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...6102501138.html

Iraqi Prime Minister Lambastes U.S.

quote:

BAGHDAD, Oct. 25 -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lashed out at the United States Wednesday, saying his popularly elected government would not bend to U.S.-imposed benchmarks and timelines and criticizing a U.S. and Iraqi military operation in a Shiite slum of Baghdad that left at least five people dead and 20 wounded. ... I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it," Maliki said Wednesday at a nationally televised news conference. "The Americans have the right to review their policies, but we do not believe in a timetables." With less than two weeks to go before critical midterm elections in the United States, Maliki accused U.S. officials of election-year grandstanding, saying that deadlines were not logical and were "the result of elections taking place right now that do not involve us." Maliki's comments followed a deadly, early morning military raid in Sadr City, a teeming Shiite slum in eastern Baghdad with 2.5 million residents loyal to the charismatic, anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The aim of the operation was to capture the leader of a Shiite death squad, according to a U.S. military statement. It was unclear whether the target was among the casualties.