WarSclerotic

Saudi Arabia has warned against foreign meddling in Iraq. Writing in the Telegraph, the Saudi ambassador to the UK, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saudi, said:

We oppose all foreign intervention and interference. There must be no meddling in Iraq’s internal affairs, not by us or by the US, the UK or by any other government. This is Iraq’s problem and they must sort it out themselves. Any government that meddles in Iraq’s affairs runs the risk of escalating the situation, creating greater mistrust between the people of Iraq – both Sunni and Shia.

Instead, we urge all the people of Iraq, whatever their religious denominations, to unite to overcome the current threats and challenges facing the country.

In that NBC interview Kerry also insisted the US was not seeking to prop up the Maliki government.

“This is not about Maliki,” AFP quoted Kerry saying.

Nothing that the president decides to do is going to be focused specifically on Prime Minister Maliki. It is focused on the people of Iraq.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has confirmed the United States is contemplating communicating with Iran to share information about the insurgency spreading across Iraq, but is not seeking to work together with Iran to address the crisis.
“We are interested in communicating with Iran. That the Iranians know what we’re thinking, that we know what they’re thinking and there is a sharing of information so people aren’t making mistakes,” Kerry said in an interview on NBC News.
Asked if the United States was considering working hand-in-hand with Iran, Kerry said: “No. We’re not sitting around contemplating how we’re going to do that or if we’re going to do that. That’s not on the table,” Kerry added.
Asked about the possibility of US air strikes, Kerry also said that “nothing is off the table”.

Iraq would be better off without Maliki, but now is not the best time to call for his resignation, according to Middle East analyst Juan Cole.

In his latest blog post Cole also cautioned that there is no obvious successor for Maliki.

Washington also has to be careful about trying and failing to get rid of al-Maliki. President Obama and Hillary Clinton wanted to get rid of Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan in 2009; they failed, and therefore had bad relations with Karzai ever after …

There are likely to be months of wrangling before a new PM can be chosen. And maybe it will have to be a minority PM because the parliament is permanently hung. In the meantime, if al-Maliki is deposed, who will command the armed forces?

So if you depose al-Maliki, you can’t be sure who will take his place. His successor may be even worse.

As in Libya, the the government could also collapse.

Martin Chulov and Spencer Ackerman have more on US calls for Maliki to go as a condition for US military intervention, and Iraq’s defiant response.

Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Senate intelligence committee, told a hearing on Wednesday that Maliki’s government “has got to go if you want any reconciliation”, and Republican John McCain called for the use of US air power but also urged Obama to ” make very clear to Maliki that his time is up”.

The White House has not called for Maliki to go but spokesman Jay Carney said that whether Iraq was led by Maliki or a successor, “We will aggressively attempt to impress upon that leader the absolute necessity of rejecting sectarian governance.”

Maliki’s spokesman, Zuhair al-Nahar, said that the west should immediately support the Iraqi government’s military operation against Isis rather than demand a change of government. He insisted that Maliki had “never used sectarian tactics”.

See earlier for audio of Nahar’s interview.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq continue to trade verbal blows over who is to blame for rise of Isis and the crisis in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia has dismissed as “ludicrous” Maliki’s claim that Saudia Arabia backed Sunni militants.
Speaking to reporters in Jeddah, foreign minister Saudi al-Faisal added that the kingdom had criminalised terrorism, especially that perpetrated by Isis and he advised Maliki to follow the policy pursued by the kingdom in eradicating terrorism.

Last night the Saudi embassy in London said it was a “malicious falsehood” of for the Iraqi cabinet to suggest that the kingdom backed Isis.

Government forces say they have taken control of Baiji oil refinery, but insurgents were still inside the complex and sporadic clashes persisted, AFP reports.

Sunni Arab militants had stormed the complex in Baiji, south of Iraq’s militant-held second city Mosul, on Wednesday, setting fire to several storage tanks for refined products in a move that sent jitters through world oil markets.

“Clashes stopped at about midnight (2100 GMT), but keep breaking out again from time to time,” Dhahi al-Juburi, an employee trapped inside the sprawling complex told AFP by telephone.

“Iraqi forces are still inside the refinery, and they control it,” he said, adding that “insurgents are still in several places in the refinery, and even in some towers.”

Another employee inside Baiji refinery, who spoke on condition of anonymity, echoed Juburi’s account.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s security spokesman Lieutenant General Qassem Atta, however, told state television earlier on Thursday that the refinery was fully in government hands and that the militant assault had been repelled.