Who Is Abdul Qadir

We learned this morning that Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qadir says he'll want US troops around until 2018 or so. Meanwhile, Swopa notes that Qadir seems to have been placed in office by US occupation authorities rather than by domestic Iraqi political actors. Which, of course, is to be expected since all signs are that the presence of US troops in Iraq is unpopular and not the sort of thing Iraqi politicians accountable to their constituents would be asking to continue forever and ever.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2008/01/who-is-abdul-qadir/47940/