What you're saying is absolutely not true, Plasma.
We also knew how Maliki was going to act if we pulled completely out.
Anyone telling you different doesn't know what they're talking about.
Those of us that had to spend a lot of time negotiating with Iraqis knew how fragile arrangements were with even people of great integrity. We knew by leaving that we couldn't help sure that wobbly-ness up.
I'm going off your PBS Frontline link you gave that I watched the full episode.
We didn't know who Maliki was when Bushed picked him, this we didn't know what he would do when we pulled out.
You fed me the info econ...you
First of all, I was pretty sure I caveated the first time I posted it that I didn't agree with all of it. I agreed with it at the broad brush level.
When people say we dint' know ANYTHING about Maliki....come on you know that doesn't pass smell test because once someone rises, you at least start ascertaining their reputation. What's meant by that is that he was little known at a national level.
See I think you guys are locking on to words used in those documentaries, or things you read, that are sometimes literal and sometimes figurative.
And no, it's not true that Bush went and found him. He rose within the Shia Political community to where THEY wanted him to be one of maybe a few to be THEIR rep.