Bring on the coup

Via Cosmic Iguana comes word that UPI is reporting a possible military coup-in-the-making against the Maliki "government" in Iraq:

CAIRO, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Iraqi army officers are reportedly planning to stage a military coup with U.S. help to oust the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Cairo-based Iraqi and Arab sources said Monday several officers visited Washington recently for talks with U.S. officials on plans for replacing Maliki's administration by a "national salvation" government with the mission to re-establish security and stability in Iraq.

One Iraqi source told United Press International that the Iraqi army officers' visit to the United States was aimed at coordinating the military coup in case the efforts of Maliki's government to restore order reached a dead end.

The proposed plan, according to the source, stipulates that the new Iraqi army, with the assistance of U.S. forces, will take control of power, suspend the constitution, dissolve parliament and form a new government. The military will also take direct control of the various provinces and the administration after imposing a state of emergency.

At this point, all one can wonder is, well, why not? It might make Bush's reassuring phone call to Maliki look a little disingenuous but it's not like that has ever bothered the White House before. And that whole "freedom and democracy" thing gets tossed out a Green Zone window in favour of "security and stability" but, really, only idiots ever believed that invading Iraq was about helping Iraqis experience the joys of democracy. If what they have there now could be called democracy, clearly joy is not part of that particular foreign policy package.

So, I say bring it on! It would be a truly grand moment in the annals of failed foreign policy watching the United States orchestrate and carry out a military coup against its own installed government in Baghdad. Such a move comes with a certain amount of built-in self-incrimination on many levels. A coup d'etat would be clearly and obviously a bad move -- really bad -- which is exactly why it is entirely conceivable that the batch of clowns in the White House could be considering something like this.